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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27178375">Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: The Fault of Divinity</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jackythejack/pseuds/Jackythejack'>Jackythejack</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Pokemon - Fandom, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Criminal Main Character, Dark-type Pokemon, Dialga’s a big baby, Gen, Gods kind of suck, Guild Members - Freeform, Legendaries Treated Like Gods, Mew is a Little Prick, Minor Hybrid Pokemon, Not Easy being a Dark Type, Platonic Relationships, Reformed Hero, Role Model Relationship, War, Well kind of but not really - Freeform, time gears</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-07 02:34:25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>34,484</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27178375</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jackythejack/pseuds/Jackythejack</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>An old story I had on fanfiction that I decided to move over to here. some of it isn’t very reflective of my current writing skill but I wanted to put this out somewhere.</p><p>Dice is not only a Sneasel, but a criminal! Caught trying to steal a precious artifact from a famous researcher and inventor, he was faced with two options: Serve jail time, or join the nearby guild as a type of community service. He chose the guild.</p><p>Little did he know, this would get him involved in a war no one was expecting. A war between legendary Pokémon, who are viewed as gods and demigods in this society. With the gods of the world at each other’s throats, and the common folk caught in the middle of all of this, how will Dice and his guild make sure that the world doesn’t fall apart at the seams?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It started late at night, in the biggest city in the region of Dualsa, Strikelm. The night was calm and peaceful. There were a few pokemon walking about, mostly nocturnal or just early risers, but most of them refused to make a sound. They didn’t dare disturb the calm, beautiful silence. To disturb the silence would disturb the beautiful scene the moonlight had cast upon the city, illuminating the tall, multicolored buildings.</p>
<p>One dared to break the silence, however. A Sneasel, and a young one at that, attempted to  climb to the top of a particular building. It was the building of one of the most famous inventors in Dualsa. An Alakazam by the name of Innovan. Alakazams are already smart, but this one had proven to be smarter than the rest, considering the inventions he had built on his own, with no help from others. He was one of the reasons why Dualsa was even a relevant region, and he often kept the whole world on the edge of it’s seat as they waited for him to unveil his latest creation. </p>
<p>The Sneasel, seeing that he couldn’t get to the top of the house, stopped on a ledge and took a moment to rest. He looked to his left and noticed a glass window, moonlight pouring through and illuminating the room inside. The Weasel pokemon could see the desk inside, along with bookcases lining the walls. </p>
<p>The dark type grinned before unsheathing his claws. Time for one of his greatest heists yet. He pressed his claw down on the window and then cut in a big circle, leaving an ear-piercing screech to fill the air, disturbing the silence. It was like the glass itself was crying out in protest, but the Sneasel continued on without hesitation. </p>
<p>Once the circle was complete, the pokemon pushed the circle forward. It popped out of the form and fell onto the desk, hitting the furniture piece with a thud. The grin on the Pokemon’s face widened and he jumped inside, jumping past the desk and landing silently on his feet. </p>
<p>The sneasel looked around the room, glancing at the bookcases and inventions that decorated the room. There was an old printing press in the back of the room. That was one of the Alakazam’s first creations. He had first built it when he just involved into an Alakazam. It really revolutionized how news had gotten around, though it was also giving the Smeargles a run for their money. Prior to the creation of the press, they wrote up all of the news, but now the best they can do is draw some pictures for the newspaper. </p>
<p>While the dark type was able to identify some of the machines in the room, such as the phonograph in the corner, some of these machines he couldn’t identify. There was one giant dome with wheels on the bottom, and there was also a few either unfinished or odd looking machines lying around.</p>
<p>“Dice, this may just be your biggest theft yet,” he said as he held back a snicker. The Sneasel knew how to be quiet. If he wanted to, he could be as quiet as a mouse. As agile as a cat. He could just slip in and get out, most likely going completely unnoticed. </p>
<p>Dice came across a giant, spiral staircase, leading to other floors of the building. The Sneasel walked down the stairs and went to the very first floor of the house. He had passed three other floors on the way down. This place was like a university, but it was only for a single man. You’d think they’d find a better use for money than a waste like this. </p>
<p>The pokemon then came across a room that, like the others, was lined with bookshelves, but in the middle there was a small work table, littered with tools and books alike. It was illuminated only by a small candle, and in the light of the candle was a small tablet. Just what Dice had been looking for. </p>
<p>It had said in the news that Innovan had found some type of ancient tablet while out on an expedition. The pokemon holed up in his house for a full month before telling the world that he was close to cracking the message in the tablet. He had said it was something important. Something about some future event that could spell doom for everyone if it were to happen and blah blah blah. Honestly Dice had never paid attention. He had just thought of how much money this thing would probably sell for. </p>
<p>“This is too easy,” Dice whispered to himself as he reached for the stone tablet. He was expecting a bit more security if it was that important. Maybe the old Pokemon was just milking his fame so he’d get money for his “research”. Right before his hand could wrap around this apparently important tablet, there was a loud ‘creeeak’ from behind him. </p>
<p>Dice’s ears perked up and he gasped. Thinking quickly, he grabbed the candle by the base. Gripping the source of light tightly, he spun around. While the candle didn’t light up much in the room, he noticed the glowing blue ball of energy, illuminating the Alakazam’s face with it’s blue light. </p>
<p>Dice quickly blew out the candle, plunging the rest of the room into darkness. He dropped the candle and ran away from the table, going to the side of the room. The ball of blue disappeared and Sneasel let out a sigh. This wasn’t supposed to happen…</p>
<p>“I know where you are, thief,” the old Pokemon said as he looked around. “I can sense your presence. You may as well come out. I’ve alerted the authorities. They will be here soon. Give yourself up now and I may ask them to let you go.” </p>
<p>“Fat chance of that happening,” Dice thought to himself as he sharpened his claws against one another. Rubbing his claws together made a faint scraping sound, causing the Alakazam to look towards the pokemon’s location. </p>
<p>Innovan, without speaking at all, formed another ball, but instead of being made out of blue energy, it was darker. This was a more evil looking energy. It was a shadow ball, and Innovan quickly threw it to where he had heard the scraping. </p>
<p>The Sneasel made no noise as he moved out of the way. The shadow ball hit the bookcase behind him and caused the books to fall down. His claws suddenly glowed a bright white as he jumped towards the psychic type. Even though it was dark in the room, he had long since adapted to dark environments, and finding the Alakazam was terribly easy. He slashed at the pokemon. His now metallic claws dug into the side of the pokemon as he was knocked to the side. </p>
<p>“Sorry about this, old man,” the thief said before he sprinted towards the Alakazam. “It’s just part of the job.” </p>
<p>With that said, the weasel pokemon jumped at the pokemon once more. With only a moment of time spent to position himself, he pressed his feet onto the pokemon’s chest and pushed him away. Inovan stumbled backwards and hit a bookcase. A few books fell on top of him and he groaned. The blows to the head caused him to sit down and put a hand to his head. He groaned once more, finding that he was unable to get up. He didn’t have the energy. He was old. He couldn’t keep a fight going for long. </p>
<p>“I appreciate that you want to protect your stuff,” Dice said with a chuckle before walking to the table. He then felt around for the tablet. Once he felt the rough surface of the artifact, he wrapped his hand around it and then made his way to the door. “Unfortunately, I think I want this more than you do. See you later, old man.” </p>
<p>Sneasel walked to the front door and unlocked it. He spun the doorknob and opened the door only to be met with a Hawlucha wearing a police hat. His arms were crossed and he glared at Dice as soon as he spotted him.</p>
<p>“Sir, you are under arrest,” the bird pokemon said as soon as Dice opened the door. “You’ve been charged with breaking and entering, and it looks like stealing as well.” </p>
<p>Dice blinked and looked at the tablet in his hands. He stared at it for only a moment or two before looking back at the officer, putting a grin on his face and acting as cool as he could be. “Look, officer, I know I got caught, but maybe if you just let this slide, I could let you in on some of the profits I get from this?” </p>
<p>The Hawlucha’s eyes narrowed and Dice immediately knew he made a mistake. Right, this guy wasn’t a corrupt cop. Just his luck. “What kind of officer do you think I am? Do you think I’d accept a bribe like that?” </p>
<p>“Well, I thought it was worth a shot.” Dice chuckled and shrugged. “So, I’m guessing you’re thinking I’ll go easily, right?”</p>
<p>“Actually, I wasn’t expecting that at all,” the wrestling pokemon said with a shake of his head. “I’m expecting you to put up a fight.” </p>
<p>Dice shook his head. “I’m not a fighter, I’ll have you know.” </p>
<p>“Then you’re a runner, huh?” This time it was the officer’s turn to chuckle. “I’ll just have to make sure you can’t run away, then.” </p>
<p>Dice frowned and took a step back. He opened his mouth to speak, but before he could get a word out, the Hawlucha moved his arm up and brought it down. It was so quick and sudden that Dice couldn’t have possibly avoided it. It hit him right on the top of the head and he crumpled to the ground, the attack immediately knocking him unconscious. </p>
<p>Hawlucha looked down at the fallen Pokemon and kicked him for good measure. He then looked back at the two that had come with him; an Archen and a Bastiodon. </p>
<p>“Take him back to the station,” he commanded. He looked back at Dice and took the tablet from his hands. “I’ll make sure that Innovan and his artifact are alright. I’ll meet you at the station, then we decide what to do with him. </p>
<p>“Sir yes sir!” The two pokemon exclaimed as the Archen pulled the Sneasel onto his partner. After securing the criminal, the two walked back to the station as the Hawlucha walked into the inventor’s house. </p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>...</p>
</div><p>The Hawlucha walked back and forth in the interrogation room, arms crossed and an angered look on his face. It was the next day, and their thief had long since woken up. They had gotten into the room only ten minutes ago, and considering the Sneasel’s sly remarks, he knew he wasn’t going to enjoy it. </p>
<p>“Hey, officer Libre, I’m just saying you didn’t have to hit me on the noggin, here.” The pokemon gestured to the top of his head, where there was a small bump due to the powerful blow he had gotten last night. “I would have gone away without a fight if you just asked.” </p>
<p>“It’s officer Machon to you.” The Hawlucha walked forward and put his hands on the table. Using his arms for support, he leaned closer to the Sneasel, who stared back at him with a smug grin. “And I don’t take any chances. A thief like you? I’m sure you’d run away if you had the chance.” </p>
<p>“I’m a man of dignity, I’ll have you know.” Dice chuckled, leaning against the table as he did. He put his elbows on the surface of the table. Resting his head in his hands, he leaned forward towards the officer. “In fact, I’m going to do you a favor. You already know that I broke into the old man’s house, right?” </p>
<p>Due to the small amount of distance between the two, Machon leaned away just slightly and nodded. “All of the evidence points to you, yes. We already know you did it, so don’t go trying to deny it.” </p>
<p>“Oh, are you kidding me? I wouldn’t deny that. I don’t deny any of my crimes. Here, let me do something.” Dice unsheathed his claws, and Machon bought up a fist in response. Dice chuckled. “Come on, I’m not going to hurt you. I’m just doing something.” </p>
<p>The Hawlucha stared at him with a look of doubt, but after a few moments, he brought his hand down and nodded. “Do as you must. Just don’t try anything.” </p>
<p>Dice nodded and pressed his claw down on the wooden table. He scratched a capital ‘R’ into the table and put a line underneath that. He moved his finger to the right and scratched a capital ‘W’ into the table. He also put a line underneath that. He then scratched one tally mark under the ‘R’. He looked up at Machon with a grin. </p>
<p>“So, I’m a nice guy. I’ll give you a chance to guess what other crimes I did. Guess it right, and I’ll admit to them. You can get it wrong only three times. After that, my lips are sealed. We have a deal?” </p>
<p>He had obviously caught Machon off guard, considering the surprised look on the officer’s face. It wasn’t often that he had a criminal actively admit to their crimes. He could use this to his advantage… </p>
<p>Hawlucha walked over to the door. He opened it and poked his head out of the room. “Get me a list of crimes in the city of Strikelm.” He then looked back at Dice and nodded. “You have a deal, thief.” </p>
<p>“The name’s Dice,” the weasel pokemon said as he retracted the claws. The officer seemed to not care about the vandalism he just caused to police property. He should consider himself lucky, then. That’s a crime he wasn’t going to accuse him of. </p>
<p>“Whatever,” the officer said as the door opened once more. A Kirlia walked through the door, wearing a pair of glasses and carrying a few pieces of paper. She walked to the Hawlucha and offered the paper. </p>
<p>“How you doin’, doll?” Dice said with a chuckle, giving the psychic-type a wink. The Kirlia looked at him and glared before she turned around and walked away, slamming the door behind her. “Wow, that’s cold even for me, and I’m an ice type.” </p>
<p>“She already has someone, you know,” the officer said as he put the papers on the table. So many crimes committed in the last couple months. Luckily, most of the criminals had been caught, which narrowed it down, but there was still a lot to pick from. </p>
<p>“You stole from the Tabit family?” They were a rich family of Persians that lived in the capital. They had someone break into their house about a month ago. </p>
<p>“Strike one. Didn’t do that, but I probably should have. Heard that those guys were loaded.” </p>
<p>Machon looked up from the papers to see that Dice was scratching a tally mark underneath the capital ‘W’. Once he was finished, the dark-type looked back up at him, giving him a look that told him to continue. </p>
<p>“Right...let’s see…” Machon looked back down at the papers. No, Dice couldn’t have stolen from the charity. He didn’t seem that heartless. “You stole from another inventor, didn’t you? The Klink brothers? A prototype of one of their inventions were missing. It was you.” </p>
<p>“You got it.” Dice scratched another tally mark into the desk, this time under the capital ‘R’</p>
<p>“Hmm...the assault last week? A Leavanny was found in an alleyway. Almost died. All of her possessions were stolen. Was that you?” </p>
<p>Dice narrowed his eyes and put a mark into the table, in the wrong category. He did it very aggressively. With one single stroke, he had scratched all the way down to the edge of the table. </p>
<p>“I don’t just assault people,” the pokemon said with a shake of his head and an edge in his voice. “I’m only there to steal, and I only fight if I have to. Strike two. Start using that brain of yours, Libre.” </p>
<p>The Hawlucha narrowed his eyes as well and shook his head. “You stole from the Pokemon Bank down the street from here? You stole a few berries and gummies, correct?” </p>
<p>“Got that.” Dice was slowly starting to calm down. Though that edge was still there, it wasn’t as noticeable as before. “Some pretty good berries, too, but I sold the gummies. Keep going. You may find yourself on a roll soon.” </p>
<p>“You stole from the Murkrow family at the east side of town. The thief came in through the window, like you did last night. It had to be you.” </p>
<p>“Yep, did that. Got a few good possessions, but I don’t think it was worth it in the end. ”Dice left another scratch and chuckled. “You got four now. At this rate I’ll never get out of jail.” </p>
<p>Hawlucha grinned and nodded. “We can only hope, can’t we?” His eyes scanned through the paper, and a minute later he shook his head. He was trying to remember how the crime scenes looked, but...he was drawing a blank. </p>
<p>“Got anything, officer?” </p>
<p>“Be quiet,” he muttered. Another minute had passed and he still had nothing. He smacked one of his hands down on the table out of frustration and looked up. “You stole from the museum, didn’t you? You took the ancient armor that was stolen two months ago.” </p>
<p>Machon was just making a wild guess by now. He had to guess something, or else this was going nowhere. Machon didn’t remember how the robbery had happened. They actually had no idea how someone could avoid all of the guards in the museum, but he had to guess. </p>
<p>“Honestly, I wish I did that, but no. Don’t even know the guy who did it.” Dice chuckled and put his claw down next to the two other tallymarks. He swiped down and left another mark in the table, indicating that Machon was wrong for the third time. </p>
<p>“Strike three,” Dice stated, a hint of cockiness in his voice. Only four crimes? The sentence couldn’t be that bad. “How long would you say I have to stay locked up?” </p>
<p>“I’m not the one that decides your sentence,” the officer said as he rounded up the papers. He had hoped to get this guy for more crimes than four. He just knew this guy was to blame for many of the crimes around, but...he probably got all he could out of him. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.” </p>
<p>As the Hawlucha walked out of the room, Dice chuckled and put his feet up on the surface of the table. Man, only four crimes? He’s done a whole lot more of them in the capital alone. He got lucky here. Thankfully the officer was an idiot and couldn’t guess correctly. </p>
<p>A few minutes later, as Dice was getting comfortable, Machon walked back into the room. He wasn’t carrying the papers anymore, so Dice just assumed he gave them to that cutie Kirlia from earlier. </p>
<p>“Get your feet off the table,” he said as he walked back towards the table. </p>
<p>“Alright. You’re the boss.” The Sneasel shrugged and put his feet down, setting the on the floor. He rested his hands on the back of his head and looked at Machon, that grin that he had for a few minutes now was still present. “So, what’s my sentence?” </p>
<p>“The judge has given you two options,” The Hawlucha said, sitting at a chair that was on his side of the table. “Though if it were me, I’d just sentence you to ten years in jail.” </p>
<p>“Good to know,” Dice said with a chuckle, “but there are two options? Ten years in jail and something else, right?” </p>
<p>“Yes, well, you can either take your ten years in jail and then be released, or you have to sign up for the adventure guild in town. There you can repay your debt to society by doing something meaningful with your life.” </p>
<p>“Wow, harsh.” Dice shook his head. “So I’m either locked up for ten years or I join the guild? The guild doesn’t sound bad, you know. I’ll just join there.” </p>
<p>“You realize that once you sign up, you can’t leave the guild, correct?” Machon asked. “Not only do they make you stay for at least a year before you leave, but the court’s going to make you stay for at least two years, but it’ll most certainly be more. You need to know the conditions of this deal.” </p>
<p>“I’m aware of that now,” the Sneasel said as he moved his hands down to his sides. “Still, it doesn’t seem that bad, now does it? I think I’ll take that.” </p>
<p>Machon nodded. “Well, that’s a shame. I would have liked seeing you locked up.” The pokemon then stood up and walked towards the door. “You’ll be escorted to the guild in about an hour. We’ll bring you a meal before you get there. You’ll meet the guild leaders and be assigned a team, and after that, I honestly don’t care what you do.” </p>
<p>“Thanks for the words of encouragement.” Dice gave the officer a mock salute as the bird pokemon shut the door. He chuckled and put his feet on the table once more. He avoided ten years in jail just by joining the guild? It was that easy? Jeez, this was going to be simple.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. The Dungeon Crawlers</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Dice is introduced to the new guild, some colorful characters, and his newest partner.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“So, what’s this place called?” the Sneasel asked as he looked up at the building that was going to be his new residence, apparently. It looked underwhelming, in a way. It was only a big tent with a  few totem poles up front of various different Pokemon. Dice could make out a Hoothoot, a Yungoose, and what was maybe a Sigilyph. He couldn’t tell for sure. It was poorly made. </p>
<p>“The Dungeon Crawlers guild,” the Hawlucha officer said. Machon had insisted that he went with the fugitive to his new home, just to make sure he didn’t try anything. The police officer was always so persistent, so nobody dared disagree with him. Besides, he knew fighting type moves, so he could take down Dice easily if he tried to escape. </p>
<p>Dice chuckled and shook his head, looking back at the officer. “Dungeon Crawlers? Kind of a stupid name, and a bit childish, don’t you think?” </p>
<p>“I’m sure it’s better than what most people could come up with,” the bird pokemon stated as he walked towards the entrance, gesturing for Dice to follow. They approached the door and Machon gave it a hard knock, making a surprising amount of noise.</p>
<p>The doors slowly creeped open and two heads popped out. One belonged to a Simipour, and the other belonged to a Simisear. </p>
<p>“Someone here?” the water type asked with a tilt of her head. </p>
<p>“Visitors?” the fire type had also asked. </p>
<p>“Oh, goodie!” They suddenly both leaped out of the doorway and hopped in front of the two, clapping hands together simultaneously. </p>
<p>“Welcome to the Dungeon Crawlers guild!” they both said in unison, both unable to hold back wide smiles that almost made Dice sick just looking at. </p>
<p>The Simipour curtseyed and put a hand on her chest. “My name is Cumuli, and I’m one of the greeters of the guild! Pleasure to meet you! Hope you have a wonderful time here!” </p>
<p>“And I am Alaze!” The Simisear gave the two pokemon a thumbs up before putting his hands on his hips, looking up at the sky in some sort of victorious pose. “I am also a greeter, and Cumui’s brother! I hope you enjoy your stay here.”</p>
<p>Cumuli giggled and looked at Alaze. “Oh! Wait, I think we’re forgetting someone, aren’t we?” </p>
<p>“Oh, yes we are, sister dear.” Alaze chuckled and looked back at the two visitors in front of them. Neither of them looked amused, but the fire-type continued with his bombastic introduction. “We’re missing the final member of our group!” </p>
<p>Alaze and Cumuli both looked at the door and, in perfect unison, brought their hands up to their mouths and called out, “Come on out!” </p>
<p>A few seconds passed and it was obvious that Cumuli and Alaze weren’t expecting the silence. </p>
<p>“Excuse me for a moment,” the water-type said and walked over to the door. “Ginseng! You need to get out here!” </p>
<p>While Cumuli proceeded to get into a quiet argument with whoever was behind the door, Dice looked back at Machon. “You’ve seen something like this before?” </p>
<p>Machon shook his head. “Never been to the guild before, if I’m going to be honest. Heard stories of these guys, though. They try to put on a good introduction; give your visit a good beginning. I’m guessing they haven’t worked it out yet.” </p>
<p>Dice chuckled. “Well, their failure’s more amusing than their actual show.” </p>
<p>“Oh, here she comes!” Cumuli bounced back to the side of Alaze and the two siblings clapped their hands. “Introducing the last of the greeter siblings! The one, the only-” </p>
<p>“Ginseng!” Suddenly, a Simisage bounced out of the door and, almost reluctantly, put her hand to her head in a mock salute, giving the visitors a stare with narrowed eyes. “Greeter Ginseng reporting for duty! You enjoy your stay! We will do our best to suit your needs!” </p>
<p>Cumuli clapped her hands together and looked at Ginseng. “Yay, we finally did it!” She ran to the grass type and gave her a hug. “Thank you so much! We’ve been working on this forever!” </p>
<p>“Yeah, I know,” the Simisage muttered with a nod of her head. “You’ve been dragging me to your little performances for months now. Honestly, you should be more focused on your job. We actually have visitors here. Now, excuse me.” </p>
<p>Ginseng gently pushed Cumuli away from her and looked at Machon. She nodded to the officer and gave him another salute, this one much more genuine. “Oh, officer Machon. You’re a very high ranked officer. Is something wrong?”</p>
<p>“Oh, so you know my work.” The officer chuckled, a grin on his face due to the recognition. The officer pushed the Sneasel to Ginseng and nodded. “This is a prisoner who decided to work in the Pokemon guild instead of facing a sentence in jail.” </p>
<p>“Oh, really?” Ginseng glanced at Dice and nodded before looking back at Machon. “So you want me to take him to the guild leaders, then?” </p>
<p>Machon nodded. “Yeah, I’d like that. Makes my job easier if you take over from here.” </p>
<p>“Right. We’ll take care of him.” Ginseng then grabbed Dice by the arm and walked towards the entrance of the guild. She gestured towards her siblings that they needed to get going. </p>
<p>“Oh, a real criminal?” Cumuli asked as she tilted her head, moving it towards Dice just slightly. “That’s really dramatic right there! Imagine all the stories this person could tell! All about infiltrating high security areas and running from the law.” </p>
<p>“I agree, sister. Those stories could be full of drama, full of adventure, and, possibly, even romance!” Alaze brought a hand to his chest and looked at Dice. “We must learn your stories later on, dear criminal! I’m sure you’ll have much to tell us.” </p>
<p>“Oh, yes, I’m sure he does,” Ginseng muttered as she walked into the building. “But he has to talk to the guild leaders, so excuse him for a moment.” </p>
<p>Ginseng then walked further into the building. She rested her paw against her face and sighed. “My siblings are all about stories. All of the action and adventure. They want to be able to reenact those scenes. Put on a play, I guess. I suggest you don’t tell them anything. They’ll never let you leave.” </p>
<p>Dice chuckled. “Yeah, and I don’t want that. No offense, but your siblings aren’t exactly normal.” </p>
<p>“I get that a lot. Now let’s keep moving.” </p>
<p>Now, Dice had to say, while the guild didn’t look that impressive on the outside, looking like nothing more than a giant circus tent, it looked much different on the inside. On the inside, it was practically like a maze, with many hallways branching off into different, expansive rooms and other hallways. Dice could only wonder how complex looking a map of this building would be. Actually, he’d rather not see that. Sounds like a headache waiting to happen. </p>
<p>Many pokemon walked past Dice as they continued moving through the building. There were all different types. There were strong pokemon such as Lucarios and Rhydons, decently strong pokemon such as Bastiodons and Raichus, and even weaker pokemon like Cottonees and Wooloos. A huge amount of pokemon, all different shapes and sizes, resided under this building. It was actually kind of impressive that they could all fit under one roof. </p>
<p>One of the most impressive rooms they had gotten to was a giant garden, filled with all types of flowers and foliage that Dice had never seen before.  The entire room had a nice aroma of flowers and there were many colors splashing the room.</p>
<p>“Here we are,” Ginseng soon said as they approached a huge door made out of some type of wood. Maybe Oak? Birch? Dice didn’t know about trees. He wasn’t going to guess. Ginseng then put her paw up and gave the door a few good knocks. </p>
<p>A few moments later, the door opened just enough to reveal an Elekid wearing a black bowtie. He looked at the two, eyes lingering on Dice for just a bit longer, before looking at Ginseng. “You wish to speak to the guild leaders?” </p>
<p>“Yeah, Edison,” the grass type said, and when the Elekid crossed his arms, she shook her head. “Sorry. Edison Sault.” </p>
<p>The Elekid nodded, a small smile on his face. “Yes, that’s right,” he said before opening the door. “Right, well, you can talk to them. Come on in.” </p>
<p>Ginseng nodded and walked into the room, pulling Dice in with her as she did. </p>
<p>The room looked...rather pretty, honestly. There were many flowers everywhere, just like the garden in the room they were just in, all ranging from different colors like purple, red and yellow. Decorating the walls were different types of awards. Ribbons, trophies or otherwise, all with little plaques next to them to describe the award, and in the middle were the guild leaders themselves. </p>
<p>One was a Butterfree who had somewhat smaller eyes than the average Butterfree, but her wings were huge and had a very elegant, colorful design compared to a Butterfree’s simple black and white wings. The other one was a Beedrill who had a scar next to his right eye and a small chip on his left stinger, but he was one of the biggest bug pokemon that Dice has ever seen. While most Beedrill were at least three feet (which is still taller than Dice, unfortunately for him), this bug was easily four feet tall, probably taller. </p>
<p>“Oh, hello Ginseng,” the Butterfree said with a nod as her wings fluttered in greeting. Her eyes then went towards the Sneasel. “Oh? Who is this? You brought someone with you?” </p>
<p>The Simisage nodded. “Oh, yes. Officer Machon had brought this criminal to me. He chose to join the guild instead of facing a punishment in jail.” </p>
<p>“Oh, really?” The Butterfree looked at the Beedrill, who stared at the dark type intently, for a few moments before flying over to the Sneasel, the Beedrill following close behind. </p>
<p>“So, what is your name? I’m Sora, and this is my partner Magnus,” she gestured to the Beedrill next to her. </p>
<p>“The name’s Dice,” the Sneasel said with a nod. “So, I guess I’m joining the guild, huh? Where do I start?” </p>
<p>Sora chuckled. “I have a feeling you’re thinking this is going to be easy, huh?” She turned towards her partner and shook her head. “Well, the thing here is…” </p>
<p>“It’s not going to be easy, maggot,” the Beedrill said. His voice was so loud and sudden that Dice reeled back from the giant bee. “This isn’t a cakewalk. We don’t go easy on our members. Rigorous training and making sure you’re the best you can be. And for a criminal like you? We’re especially not going easy on you.” </p>
<p>“I think I can handle it,” he said, keeping his calm demeanor as he crossed his arms and gave the Beedrill a cocky grin. “So, where do I start?” </p>
<p>Beedrill stared at the pokemon for a few moments before chuckling. It was a rough sound, like a buzzing beehive. “Alright, you little worm, before you start doing anything involving adventure teams, you need a partner.” </p>
<p>“Oh, man. I don’t have one of those.” Dice’s voice was filled with mock disappointment. “Guess I can’t do anything then, huh?’ </p>
<p>“No, no, you’re doing something,” Sora said before looking at the Elekid, Edison Sault. “Could you get Sashy for us, please?” </p>
<p>“Yes ma’am,” the pokemon said with a nod before rushing out of the room, Ginseng chuckling as she watched the smaller pokemon rush out. </p>
<p>“Man, you’re getting Sashy?” the pokemon asked. “You’re in for a wild ride, Dice. Sashy isn’t going to be slowing down for you.” </p>
<p>“Oh, really?” Dice asked. “And who is this Sashy, huh? Some Yamper? A Honedge? Hitmonchan? Something to keep me in line, right?” </p>
<p>Soara shook her head. “Oh, far from it.” </p>
<p>Dice was about to ask who his partner was going to be, but then he heard a loud, energetic cry come from outside of the room. </p>
<p>“Sora!” shouted a very excited Maractus as he rushed into the room. The Maractus looked like your normal Maractus, except he had two small roses on the top of each ear, probably a genetic feature, and a light blue sash around his neck. Maybe that’s why he got that name. “You wanted to see me?” </p>
<p>“Yes, we did,” she said before looking at Magnus. “You want to explain it to him?” </p>
<p>The Beedril nodded and cleared his throat. “Sashy! The moment you’ve been waiting for has arrived! You now have a partner of your very own! Enjoy your time with him. I’m sure you’ll be spending a lot of time with him.”</p>
<p>“My partner!?” Sashy’s eyes practically shone with excitement from that as he looked over at Dice, and that’s when Dice noticed that, even without the ears, the kid was a couple inches taller than him. Jeez, Ether everyone is just tall here or he’s just really short…</p>
<p>The Maractus then clapped his thorny hands together. “You’re going to be my partner?! Oh my goodness! I’ve been waiting for so long for a partner!” </p>
<p>Dice blinked and stared at Sashy. This kid was...young. He was barely even a grown up. Only around the age of sixteen at the least, or eighteen at the most. He then looked back at the two guild leaders. “You want me to be his partner?” </p>
<p>“Of course,” Soara confirmed with a nod. “You need a partner before you do any guild work. Sashy has been needing a partner for a while, so we’ll put two and two together, and we get two birds in one stone.” </p>
<p>“I don’t think that’s how you say it,” the Beedrill said. </p>
<p>“Pretty sure it is. Anyways, you two better get to know each other, and…” Soara looked to Edison Sault once more and smiled at him. “Edison Sault, dear sir, could you please lead these pokemon through the guild?” </p>
<p>“It’d be my pleasure, guild leader Soara,” said the electric-type before walking towards the door, gesturing for the other two to follow. “Come now, we have a lot to show you.” </p>
<p>Dice frowned and looked at Sashy, whose eyes were still glowing with excitement. Well, this was what he asked for, and it was better than jail, so, he took a deep breath and followed the Elekid, Sashy followed close behind.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Guild Tour</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>So this was originally two separate chapters that I merged into one, so it might be pretty long bear with me on that.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“So, you’re the one that stole from Innovan last night, correct?” The Elekid, Edison Sault, looked back at the two. One was eagerly following behind, and the other was more reluctant to follow. </p><p>“Word gets around fast, huh?” Dice asked with a chuckle. “It’s a big town. Didn’t expect people to know the day after.” </p><p>“Oh, no, so far the paper hasn’t said anything about the theft. It’s just that I know Inovan personally. I invest in his inventions. I give him money to continue his works, and he gives me a part of his profits.” Trying to keep his classy image, Edison adjusted his black bowtie. “As soon as you were arrested, he contacted me. He thought I should know.” </p><p>“Wait, you get part of his profits?” The thief asked with a tilted head. “You must be rich! Why are you still working here?” </p><p>“I am only saving up my money,” the assistant said. “I can’t spend it all or be wasteful with it. This job provides a steady source of income, and my bosses are some of the greatest in Dualsa, so I’m staying.” </p><p>Dice nodded and opened his mouth to say something else, but Sashy interjected with his own question, blurting in the middle of the sentence. </p><p>“Wait, you’re a thief?” the cactus pokemon asked, turning to the other with a curious stare. “I didn’t know that! Actually...I don’t even know your name.” He then let out an awkward chuckle. </p><p>“Oh, right. We didn’t really meet, did we?” Those guild leaders did just push Dice upon this poor kid. He must have no idea what he’s getting into. “The name’s Dice. I already heard your name’s Sashy, and yeah, I guess you could call me a thief. Only reason why I’m here, really.” </p><p>“Oh, okay…” Sashy’s eyes trailed off to the side, not looking as enthusiastic as before now that he figured out his partner’s background. He quickly smiled again and looked back at Dice. “Well, don’t worry! A year or two in the guild and you’ll never want to steal from a pokemon ever again!” </p><p>“Yeah, I’m sure that’ll happen,” he said with a scoff before looking back at Sault. “So...Edison, where’re we going first?” </p><p>“That’s Edison Sault to you, sir,” the electric type said, not bothering to look back at the other two. “That’s what I prefer to be called. Now, to answer your question, we’re going to the dining room. Showing you where you’ll be eating.” </p><p>“Oh, dinner. Nice.” Dice nodded and patted a paw to his stomach. “I haven’t eaten much today. Been a few hours since I’ve eaten. When is dinner?” </p><p>“In a couple more hours. You’ll just have to wait. We don’t have early meals, so you can’t have any small meals until then.” </p><p>Dice nodded once more and then the group fell silent as they continued walking. A minute or two later, Dice felt a sharp prick on his arm. He winced and looked at Sashy, who had decided to poke him. </p><p>Sashy smiled at him, waved, and opened his other hand, which held an Oran berry. He offered it to Dice with a wide smile.</p><p>“Oh, thanks,” Dice muttered before picking up the berry and taking a bite. It was a pretty good berry, honestly. Very juicy. Sure, he was more of a carnivore, but he could accept eating a berry every now and then. Did these come from the guild? If so, then he couldn’t wait until it was actually dinner time. If this was what a berry tasted like, he could only wonder what a full meal was like.</p><p>“Here we are,” the Elekid said after a couple more minutes. Dice, who had finished his berry a while ago, looked up and noticed the room they had entered. </p><p>It was a gigantic room, and it looked like it took up most of the building. The room was long. So long, in fact, that Dice could barely see the other side of the room. There were many other entrances to the room, and pokemon came and left as they pleased. In the middle of the room, there was a giant table that went from one end of the room to the other, and placed on the table were salt shakers and other things of the like. Thinking of this entire room being filled to the brim with pokemon was a tad bit overwhelming, and Dice was wondering how chaotic lunch was going to be. </p><p>“This is the dining room,” said the electric-type. “Though, you probably figured that out upon entering. We have a large staff of people here that cook and prepare the table day in and day out. They will serve you and give you what you need. I suggest you be polite to them. Most of the staff don’t take kindly to rudeness at the dinner table.” </p><p>Dice nodded, still very impressed by the size of the room. “Yeah, okay...understandable.” He looked back at Edison Sault and shook his head. “How big is this place, anyways?” </p><p>“What place? The room or the building itself?” Edison asked. “Because, you see-” </p><p>“This room is only a small part of a huuuuge building!” Sashy hopped into the air, being excited simply because he was talking about the guild. “The surface floor of this place is kind of small. We have the dining room and we have some training rooms, with bedrooms and stuff, and the big garden! It may look small on the outside, but we’ve managed to make it huge on the inside, thanks to some trickery from a few powerful psychic pokemon! The bottom floors, underground, hold a bunch of other bedrooms and stuff. It’s really cool!” </p><p>The Elekid blinked and looked at Sashy, who realized he had interrupted the assistant and let out a nervous chuckle in response. “Yes, thank you, Sashy, but I think you should leave the explaining to me.” </p><p>“Uh...yes, sir.” Sashy nodded and gave the assistant a quick salute, even it if wasn’t necessary.</p><p>Edison nodded and cleared his throat. “Well, this is the dining room. Let’s go to the training room now.” </p><p>“How long have you two been here?” Dice asked as they left the dining room. </p><p>“Well, I’ve been working for the guild for at least three years now. I took the job so I could make an impact on society. Sashy...how long have you been here?” </p><p>“Uh...almost two years, actually.” The Maractus hopped up and down as he followed the Elekid . How much energy did this kid have? “I was momentarily teamed up with you, Edison Sault, don’t you remember? That was when you decided adventuring really wasn’t for you. We didn’t do a lot, but we still did stuff.” </p><p>“Oh, yes, and those were fun times, weren’t they?” The Elekid shook his head and continued walking. It seemed like reminiscing about his first years here wasn’t his favorite thing to do. “We’ve been here a while, to answer your question.” </p><p>“Wow, that’s a long time,” Dice muttered before shaking his head. How long was he going to stay here? He already forgot how long the department wanted him to stay. Less than ten, he knew that. “And you haven’t been able to do anything, kid?” </p><p>“Well, not exactly,” the cactus shrugged as they continued moving. He took a moment to say hello to a passing Absol and Lampent before looking back at Dice. “Besides when I teamed up with Edison Sault, I’ve been able to do a few small things in Strikelm, like help the police and stuff. I’m actually friends with some of the officers, but...I’ve never been able to go outside the city. I haven’t really had a partner, and I’ve been having an empty bed in my room ever since I’ve joined the guild. But now you’re here!” </p><p>“Yeah, aren’t you lucky?” the Sneasel asked with a grin. “Well, now we can go outside the city and help people, I guess. Bet you’re happy about that.” </p><p>The Maractus nodded as Edison stopped and looked back at them. “We’re here,” the electric type said. </p><p>This room was...not as big as the dining room, though that was understandable, considering how big the dining room was. Not as many people could fit in here, he was sure of that. </p><p>There were a few training items in the room. One of them was a rock wall, which a Geodude was trying to get to the top of. Off in the distance, against the left wall, were a few targets, and a ways away from those targets were piles of stone. Testing accuracy, Dice assumed. There were also many punching bags which all different kinds of pokemon were using, and in the middle, a Hitmontop and Raticate were engaged in battle on some sort of fighting ring, and they were really going at it. </p><p>“Got a lot of training equipment, huh?” The thief asked as he crossed his arms, still taking a good look around the room. “And I’m guessing you have some people to make sure the pokemon are in shape?” </p><p>“Well, yes. We have one for every field of fighting. One to focus on your endurance and how to defend yourself, another helps you with your reflexes and how to be more agile, and so on and so forth. More often than not, though, guildmaster Magnus comes in and fights most of the members.” </p><p>Dice chuckled. “That old man likes to fight, I’m guessing?” </p><p>“Old man!” Sashy practically gasped in surprise, staring at Dice with widened eyes. “He is not an old man! He is a respectable veteran! He and Sora are very famous in parts of the world.” </p><p>“I’m sure they are,” Dice said with a dismissive tone. Can’t make a joke around here, can he? </p><p>Sashy frowned and looked around the room before smiling once more and grabbing Dice’s hand, causing the Sneasel to yelp from the sudden pricks of the cactus hand. “I have to show you to someone!” </p><p>And just like that, the Sneasel was dragged away from the Elekid assistant and towards a Lucario that was busy with one of the punching bags. “Lucca! Lucca!” Sashy shouted. </p><p>The Lucario suddenly turned around. Noticing his friend, he smiled. “Oh, hi!” greeted the canine-like pokemon, waving a paw at the two pokemon. Sashy let go of Dice’s arm and jumped at the Lucario, who responded by hugging the cactus pokemon. </p><p>“I got a new partner!” Sashy could barely hold his excitement as he was practically screaming at Lucca. “He’s right there.” Sashy pointed to Dice, who was just wondering how the Lucario could stand hugging a cactus. </p><p>“Oh!” Lucca then put the Maractus down and walked over to the Sneasel. “I’m Lucca! It’s nice to meet you!” </p><p>“Uh, yeah, it’s nice to meet you t-” Before Dice could finish his sentence, the Lucario picked him up and pulled him into a hug, squeezing him tightly. “Ow! Okay, watch your strength there, buddy.” </p><p>“Oh, sorry.” Lucca loosened his grip slightly and patted Dice on the head before putting him down. “So you’re Sashy’s partner? You’re going to have a great partner, then. Sashy’s one of the best people I know to be a part of a rescue team.” </p><p>“Oh, heh, thanks, Lucca,” Sashy said as he then looked back at Dice. “We were just showing Dice here around the guild, just to get him settled in.”</p><p>“Yes, and I think we’re just about done here.” Edison had by now walked over to the group of three, not looking very pleased about being abandoned. “Now, you know the basics, and I’m sure Sashy here can take you everywhere else, right?” </p><p>“That’s right!” </p><p>“Good, so, I think I’ll be leaving you to your own devices. I will see you at dinner. Have fun.” </p><p>Sashy was just about to wave the Elekid goodbye, but then he had gotten a wonderful idea. “Oh! Edison! Edison Sault! Why don’t you spar with us?” </p><p>The electric type blinked and turned around, raising what would be an eyebrow, if he had one. “Excuse me? No, I can’t do that. I have work I should be doing. I am a busy pokemon, I’ll have you know.” </p><p>“Oh, come on, I’m sure it won’t take that long,” Dice suddenly said, crossing his arms as he did so. There was a smug grin on his face. “I’m sure beating someone like you wouldn’t take that long.” </p><p>Edison turned to Dice and narrowed his eyes just slightly. “What are you implying, criminal?” he asked. “Are you saying I’d be unable to fight?” </p><p>“I’m just saying that if you’re so classy, you probably wouldn’t even throw a punch, let alone win a battle.” Dice chuckled. “That’s why you’re running away, huh? Guess I can’t blame you, though. Being an assistant, you probably have a lot of excuses to use.” </p><p>“Dice!” exclaimed the Sneasel’s partner. “You can’t just talk to him like that!” </p><p>“Sashy, I’ll take care of this.” Edison then took a step closer to the Sneasel, not looking amused in the slightest. “I’ll have you know that I found myself as a training partner to guild leader Magnus himself, and I also helped him teach the members of the guild a few tricks. I know how to attack, and I know how to dodge.” </p><p>“Oh, really?” Dice shook his head. “I find that hard to believe, Eddy. How about you prove it? Or are you too busy?” </p><p>There was silence among the two for what seemed like forever, but was only a minute or two at most. Edison sighed and shook his head. “Later,” he said. “I have no time for it now. Perhaps tomorrow, though. Tomorrow is going to be a big training day, so you can look forward to that.”</p><p>“Oh, I definitely will,” the Sneasel said as the Elekid began to walk away. He waved to the electric-type. “See you tomorrow then, Eddy.” </p><p>Sashy frowned and moved to the Sneasel. He shook his head, obviously disapproving of Dice’s actions. “You really shouldn’t talk to Edison like that,” he said. “He works really hard to make sure the guild is in good shape. You should respect him.” </p><p>“Hey, I’m just trying to have some fun.” Dice shrugged before looking to the exit of the room. “So...you want to show me around the place a bit more?”</p><p>“Oh, yeah, I should probably do that,” he said before turning to the Lucario. “Okay, good bye, Lucca, I gotta take this guy around the guild.” </p><p>“Okay, goodbye!” </p><p>Sashy nodded and grabbed the Sneasel’s arm once more before running towards the exit, ready to give his own version of the tour, and Dice just prepared himself for what would happen next.</p><div class="center">
  <p>...</p>
</div>Dice was finding it hard to keep up. Though he had eaten the oran berry, it wasn’t enough to refill his energy, and Sashy still had the energy to tire out a Vigoroth and run a couple laps around this guild. <p>Of course, going through all the winding hallways wasn’t helping at all. There were a bunch of doors on each side of the hallways, probably leading to bedrooms and other things that weren’t important to the tour. It didn’t help with figuring out where he was in the building, though. </p><p>After a few minutes, Sashy stopped and turned around. He let go of Dice’s hand and brought both his arms up. “Here we are! The mission room!” </p><p>The mission room didn’t look like anything impressive compared to the other rooms. It was smaller than both the dining room and the training room, and the two things that really deserved your attention were two giant billboards hanging on the walls. All over the billboards were different types of papers. Some looked to be hand written, while others were printed out, probably on some printing press. Paper covered the entirety of the two billboards. You couldn't find a single spot that wasn’t covered</p><p>In between each of the billboards, there was a small booth that didn’t look like it had received proper maintenance. A Hoothoot who had obviously fallen asleep was in the booth, resting on the surface of the counter and he looked like he was enjoying his rest.</p><p>“This is the mission room,” Sashy said. “This is where you can sign yourself up for a mission. They vary from one thing to another, like finding someone’s lost item or saving a lost Pokemon. Those are all on the billboard to the left. On the right, though, that billboard is full of wanted posters. Evil criminals who need to be brought to justice. There are all kinds of criminals on this board.” </p><p>“Let me see this,” Sneasel muttered before walking to the billboard that was on the right and examining all of the posters. After about a minute of staring, he chuckled and poked at a poster that had a Jumpluff on it. “I think I know that guy.”</p><p>Sashy let out a laugh and nodded. “Well, considering you’re a criminal, you may know some people.” </p><p>Dice nodded and then looked around the room. He found a small passageway that led to what looked like another room and tilted his head slightly. Without asking Sashy, he walked down the passageway and into the room. </p><p>This room was actually bigger than the mission room, but it was completely different from the dining room and the training room. This room was filled with small little structures, all having their own little decorations. Some had scrolls with writing on them that Dice didn’t bother to read, some had all kinds of berries or even some gummis, and others had simple food items, like some sort of offering. All of the shrines, though, had some incense burning nearby. Maybe to get rid of the smell of rotten food. </p><p>“What’s this place?” Dice asked as he looked back at the Maractus, who had followed him as soon as he noticed Dice was moving. </p><p>“Oh, uh, this is the worship room. I guess you could call it that.” Sashy let out a nervous chuckle and walked to the structure at the far left end of the room. A dark blue structure with red lines painted here and there and a small bowl of water being the centerpiece. “When some pokemon embark on missions, they give offerings to the god pokemon of their choice. They ask for luck or for guidance. This one here belongs to Kyogre. Mostly the water types leave offerings for him.” </p><p>Dice chuckled and shook his head. “God pokemon, huh?” Honestly, he never believed in the silly stories of gods being in the world. If there were gods, then wouldn’t they show themselves to the world? Some people are too dumb to ask questions. </p><p>He understood why religion was so present in Dualsa, though. According to legend, Dualsa was either right above the distortion world, the home of Giratina, or was the specific place where the gods went to fight. You know, those like Palkia and Dialga, as well as Kyogre and Groudon. He still thought it was kind of absurd though. Despite this, Dice felt the need to question Sashy still. “So, you got a god you worship?” </p><p>“Oh, uh…” Sashy ran to the other side of the room, the far right, and gestured to the dark red shrine that had two burning torches in front of it, as well as a pile of dirt, along with some apples and seeds. A pile of dirt. That definitely keeps a god happy. “Groudon. God of the land.” </p><p>“It’s because you’re a cactus, isn’t it?” Dice asked, holding back another chuckle. “Or because he provides desert? I mean, it makes sense. I’m not going to make fun of you.” </p><p>“Uh, I guess that’s a part of it, yeah.” Sashy shook his head. “But it’s more than that. Groudon is practically a savior. He lets the crops grow in the first place. Shaymin, goddess of flowers, helps sometimes, yes, but Groudon lets them grow and allows them to take root. If he gets angry, the whole world would have a famine. We’d have to resort to eating each other, and that’d be awful!” </p><p>Sashy looked down the line at Kyogre’s shrine and scratched the back of his head. “Well, that, and I don’t like Kyogre. You heard the stories, right? Kyogre fights with Groudon to see who wins. Groudon wants to expand the land, and Kyogre wants to expand the oceans. If Kyogre gets what he wants...he’ll flood the world. I can’t live with all that water.” </p><p>“Well, at least you have good reasons.” At least Sashy didn’t just believe in something because everyone else was. Sneasel looked up and down the line of shrines, counting them all in his head. There were twenty in total, and some were more used than others. Some of them seemed like they were barely used at all, which was probably good considering the least used one out of the twenty was obviously Giratina.</p><p>Though Dice didn’t know much at all about religion, and he didn’t believe in any gods, he could immediately tell the dark grey altar belonged to Giratina due to the mirror that was hanging on the altar. It was believed that you could speak to the devil pokemon through a mirror if it’s just the right time. Dice couldn’t help but wonder how many pokemon had actually tried something as stupid as that. </p><p>“Uh...you have anyone you worship, Dice?” Sashy asked as the Sneasel turned to him. He seemed to be a bit uncomfortable talking about religion. Dice wasn’t sure why, but he just shrugged it off. </p><p>“Can’t say I really do,” he said. “I mean...not someone that I worship every day or anything. Just...you know, no one that I put all of my belief in.” </p><p>“Oh, yeah...that makes sense.” </p><p>But it was a lie. Dice really didn’t believe in any of the gods. It just seemed ridiculous to think that they existed. The only reason why he lied was because people with no god they believed in...weren’t necessarily well liked in the Pokemon community. He was sure Sashy wouldn’t think differently of him for it, but he wanted to avoid that sort of drama.  He’s actually lied about his religion many times before...</p><p>“You know, some people have been saying that the gods are getting angry,” Sashy said, though Dice barely heard the sentence. “Well, I don’t think they said angry, but they’re not happy, that’s for sure.” </p><p>“Oh, really?” Dice said in an uncaring tone. “Why do they think that? Some people have been talking to the gods or something?” </p><p>“Actually, uh...yeah.” The cactus nodded. “Don’t you read the paper? They were talking about it a couple of weeks ago, and they kept updating it for a couple of days.” </p><p>“I don’t read the paper very often,” Dice said with a shrug. “I only ever read it to figure out what I’m going to steal. If there wasn’t anything that looked really shiny in the paper, I didn’t bother to read about it.” </p><p>“Oh, well, they’re talking about how priests of every cult have been unable to speak to their gods. It started with Groudon first, then it was Kyogre, Victini, and even Giratina, though not many people cared about that one. The gods don’t usually just avoid their followers. They give them answers in one way or another, so this is really strange.” </p><p>The cactus’s eyes trailed towards the shrine of Groudon and he let out a small sigh, his ears drooping only slightly. “And I think that Groudon won’t answer any prayers, either. That kind of makes me nervous, you know?” </p><p>“Yeah, that’s a shame.” Dice tried to make it sound like he cared at least a little bit, but he couldn’t find it in him. He could care less about the gods. He didn’t want to hear about the all mighty pokemon that may be fake for all he knew, and he definitely didn’t want to worship them or try to speak to them. This might be news to Sashy, and it might make him disappointed, but it had no effect on Dice. He just didn’t care. </p><p>Sashy hopped over to the Groudon shrine and frowned. Dice walked to the grass type’s side to take a look at him. He seemed genuinely sad. It was almost enough to put a frown on Dice’s face. Wow, this kid really put a lot of faith in Groudon. Dice didn’t care much about the gods, but he couldn’t help but hope that there would be some good news about them eventually, at least for this kid’s sake.</p><p>Though, in an instant, Sashy’s frown turned into a smile. His ears shot up and he looked towards Dice, clapping his hands together as he looked at Dice with eyes full of energy. This kid definitely had problems controlling his emotions, or maybe he was just good at changing them on the spot. Either way...</p><p>“Hey, I got an idea!” the cactus pokemon exclaimed. “The tour’s basically over. I don’t think you need to see the infirmary, so we can get to the dining room! How about you try to find your way there? It’d help you get used to the building.” </p><p>Dice frowned slightly but a few seconds later he just shrugged and nodded. “Yeah, sure. It gives us something to do until dinner.” So they were going to the dining room, huh? He hasn’t been there in a while. May take them a while to find it, but he was sure he could do it after a while.</p><p>Sashy nodded excitedly. “Great! Let’s get going. We don’t want to take too long, or we might just miss dinner.” </p><p>The former thief nodded once more before turning around and walking out of the room. Right, what did he remember about this place? He tried to make a mental map, but quickly figured out he remembered nothing about the path they had took. He wasn’t paying attention when his partner dragged him through the guild, so he had no idea where to go. </p><p>Sneasel looked at the two different paths to take in the mission room and, after only a few seconds of thinking, chose to go down the left path. “I think it’s over here.” </p><p>Sashy said nothing, but instead he held back a small giggle, which gave Dice a pretty good hint that he wasn’t going the right way, so instead the Sneasel turned around and walked down the right path. “Or maybe this way. Come on. I’m sure we can make after a while.”</p><p>Ugh, this was going to be harder than he thought…</p>
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<a name="section0004"><h2>4. "Family" Dinner</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>By the time Dice had found his way through the passageways the guild possessed, which most of the time he had to ask Sashy for a hint, and made it to the dining room, dinner time had just begun, and Pokemon were beginning to flow into the dining room by the tens. The amount of noise wasn’t nice on the ears. </p><p>“How many pokemon are there here?” Dice muttered to himself as he tried to find a spare place to sit at the table. Were there enough seats for everyone? It seemed almost impossible to seat that many people on one table. You’d think there’d be multiple tables here considering how many pokemon there were. </p><p>“I don’t know, honestly,” Sashy said as he looked around, that smile still on his face. He was so cheerful. Hopefully he wasn’t like this everyday. Dice wouldn’t be able to handle dealing with this every single day. “Over a hundred, I know that much.” </p><p>Dice nodded and soon afterwards he spied an open seat, right in the middle of the table. Dice quickly moved to the seat and sat down. Sashy picked the seat next to him and tapped his spiky hand against the table. </p><p>“Do you even need to eat?” Dice found himself asking after a few seconds of waiting. “You’re a cactus after all, aren’t you? And a grass type. Can’t you just put your roots into the ground and gain energy like that?” </p><p>“Well, yeah, I can do that. Some of the grass types here do that. I know a Hoppip here that only eats by digging roots into the ground to save food for the others.” Sashy chuckled and looked up from the wooden table, smiling at Dice. “But the food here is too delicious to pass up! Besides, I don’t eat much. Normally just an apple. That feeds me for a week or so.” </p><p>“A week? Jeez, kid, an apple can’t even get me through a couple hours. That because you’re a cactus?” </p><p>“Yep! All of the cactus pokemon, Cacturnes, Cacneas and Maractuses can store food for later use. We don’t need much to keep us fed or hydrated, so we store the rest of it.” </p><p>“Wish I could do that.” Dice chuckled and looked up and down the table. “When’s the food getting here, huh? Been a long day, and I’m starving.” </p><p>“Oh, guild master Magnus and Sora have to make a speech first,” he said, his smile still present. “When there’s a new team, they make an announcement so everyone knows, and they also talk about other events.” </p><p>Just as Sashy finished his sentence, there was an incredibly loud buzz coming from the front of the table, the far right side, causing all of the conversations of the pokemon around them to cease. Dice looked at the front of the table and saw the two guild leaders sitting there. Dice had also noticed that sitting next to them were Lucca, the Lucario they had met in the training room, and Edison Sault, the Elekid assistant. </p><p>“Hey, listen up now!” Magnus had yelled out, and his voice was surprisingly loud. The old man certainly had a voice. “Now, we have a couple announcements to make, so don’t interrupt and you get to eat faster.” </p><p>“The first thing we must announce is that we have a new team that needs to be registered!” This was Sora speaking, and while she was quieter than Magnus, Dice could still hear her loud and clear. “Could the members of that team please stand up? I think everyone would like to know the new members.” </p><p>Before Dice could respond, Sashy had hopped out of his seat and was rushing to the front of the table. As he ran, there was a sound resembling the shake of a maraca, though this was normal for Maractuses, so no one batted an eye. Dice watched Sashy run across the room and noticed that other Pokemon were...smiling at him. They must be happy for him. ...how many friends did Sashy have here? He was definitely social. </p><p>“Come on, Dice!” Sashy shouted. The cactus Pokemon had already reached the front of the table. Once he had shouted to his partner, he turned to the guild leaders and began to converse, though Dice was too far away to hear. </p><p>Dice sighed and stood up before walking towards Sashy, looking at the Pokemon sitting at the table as he did. Not nearly as many of them smiled at him. He did notice that a lone Seel was clapping. The guy was probably just trying to make him feel better, though. </p><p>The Sneasel joined Sashy at the front of the table and waved at everyone who was seated. There were so many people here...all looking at him. He wasn’t used to this at all. He normally went around with people not looking at him. So many people in the same room...almost overwhelming in a way. </p><p>Once the two had gotten to her side of the table, Sora cleared her throat and spoke once more, everyone in the room quickly grew silent to listen to her. </p><p>“These are the two members of our newest adventure team! One you have already known for a long time, I’m sure. It is our very own Sashy the Maractus.” </p><p>The pokemon closest to the front all clapped, and that slowly spread down to the far end of the table. The clapping was terribly loud, and it was enough to hurt Dice’s sensitive ears. His ears had been trained to pick up small sounds. Noises this loud had always hurt. </p><p>Soara then grabbed a small badge that was on the table next to her. The badge was small, but it looked very well crafted, and seemed to be made of bronze. It was the shape of a shield with two swords crossed over it. On the shield it said Sashy’s name, Pokemon species, and the name of the guild. Soara presented the badge to Sashy and he quickly grabbed it and put it on his sash that was around his neck.</p><p>“And Sashy’s partner. The newest member to the guild, so we expect a big welcome for him. This is Dice the Sneasel.” </p><p>Not nearly as many claps from the seated pokemon, but Lucca was definitely clapping, and Dice bet that the Seel from earlier was as well. He didn’t expect much clapping for him. He was new, and he was a stranger. Why should they clap for him?</p><p>Sora then flew over to him, a black handkerchief in her hands. Before he could grab it, she flew behind her and tied the handkerchief around his head so it covered his mouth, similar to what a bandit would do. How clever. </p><p>The Butterfree then presented Dice with a badge, the same shape as Sashy’s badge, and it had the same information as well; Dice’s name, pokemon species, and name of the guild. He grabbed the badge, put it onto his handkerchief before pulling it down over his chin so his mouth was uncovered. </p><p>“Now, together, these two make our newest adventure team! Team, um…” Sora then turned towards the two and tilted her head. “What’s your team name?” </p><p>While Dice just shrugged, Sashy bounced up and clapped his hands together. That was certainly his favorite way to get someone’s attention. “Team Silent Step!” </p><p>Dice frowned and looked at the cactus pokemon. “Silent Step?” he asked with a tilted head. That name sounded sort of stupid, honestly, but he wasn’t just going to say that. </p><p>“What, you’re quiet aren’t you?” the Maractus responded. “And I like music, and dancing, and to dance you need to take steps, so, Silent Step!” </p><p>Sora nodded and looked down the table once more. Dice decided not to argue. Sure, let the kid have his fun. Not like he cared. He just wanted to get this done with and sit back down. “Team Silent Step! Now, let’s give them all a big round of applause, shall we?” </p><p>Her question was answered with much applause, and Dice was sure that it was mostly for Sashy and not him. He knew so many people here, and they were obviously very happy for him. </p><p>“You may go back to your seats now,” Sora said as Dice saw that a few Pokemon, probably staff members, were walking around the table, handing out plates and even silverware for some that didn’t have claws or sharp teeth, like Sentret and such. </p><p>Dice nodded and walked to his seat, Sashy rushing past him with a few excited jumps thrown into the mix, along with some maraca noises. This kid was crazy.</p><p>“My second announcement,” the Butterfree said, and though the pokemon around him seemed disappointed that they wouldn’t be able to eat yet, they listened anyways, “is just a warning. As you may have known, for those that have gone out of the city recently, the pokemon outside that choose to live in the forests and caves are getting more and more hostile to us dungeon crawlers. I ask you all to be careful if you are ever to go out on a mission. Remember, you are all important to the guild, and your loss will affect us, so don’t do anything ridiculous.”</p><p>“And don’t forget the violent cults,” Magnus quickly added. “Cult violence has been getting more common all over the region. You all need to be careful and watch out for these cults. If you see them, try to take them in. If you can’t, well, don’t be stupid. You gotta run. Like Sora said, you’re all important parts of the guild. We don’t want to lose you.” </p><p>There was a few mutters going around the dinner table. Dice was able to pick up on some of the conversations as he walked by. Something about the wild pokemon around the city, how someone heard there was cult violence just north of the city, and other things about how it may be a bit more dangerous to go out now, but the talking died down as quickly as it started and everyone looked back towards the insects.</p><p>“And that’s about it,” the guild leader said with a chuckle. “Now, dig in, everyone. No use letting good food just sit there.” </p><p>Dice sat down just as a Lampent came by and put his food down. He nodded to the pokemon and then looked at his food. A nice looking steak (this place served meat? He was almost surprised), along with some berries if he wanted to eat those instead. He took out his claws and cut a small section of the steak before popping it into his mouth. </p><p>The Sneasel smiled from the taste of the steak. It was actually...really good. Like the berry before, this steak was really delicious. Well cooked, and not a single piece of it was burnt, which was what he had grown accustomed to during his days eating at shady bars and inns. Food this good was very much welcomed. Judging by how friendly this place was, he actually thought they wouldn’t serve meat. He was pleasantly surprised.</p><p>“Hey, who’s the cook?” Dice asked as he glanced at Sashy, who was currently stuffing his face with an apple. </p><p>“Oh, it’s a Kabutops,” the cactus said, his mouth full of food. He chuckled and swallowed. “His name’s Jurami, and he’s gotta be one of the best cooks in the region! Though, I haven’t tried food from many other cooks.” </p><p>Dice nodded. “I’ll have to talk to him later. Tell him he makes good food.” </p><p>Sashy nodded. “Yeah, all of the meat eaters love him. He usually focuses on meat, but he can make salad and stuff too. He made a great meal for me once when I was really hungry after a long day of work. He’s a nice guy.” </p><p>The Sneasel just gave a hum of acknowledgement and then went back to his food. He continued to eat his food until, eventually, much quicker than he thought, actually, it was gone. He chuckled and looked at Sashy, who was now drinking a glass of water, chugging it down like his life depended on it.</p><p>“You thirsty?” the former thief asked. </p><p>“Hmm?” Sashy shook his head and put the glass down. “No, I’m just getting my fill of water. I’m not thirsty, but I have to drink more water so I can store some for later. I’m fine.” </p><p>Dice nodded and then looked back at his plate. He took a quick look around the table to see what everyone else was doing. The dining room was filled with the sound of pokemon chatting with wide smiles on their faces as they stuffed themselves silly. Every once and awhile, some food would go flying across the table. At one point it got so bad that Magnus had to shout at them. Dice had to admit, he was surprised the Beedrill was loud enough to be heard over the crowd. It was pretty loud in there, after all.</p><p>Eventually, after about an hour or two, dinner had ended, and Dice had actually gotten into conversation with Sashy once more. He even got to talk to a pretty Krokorok that was sitting next to him. She seemed pretty nice, honestly, though didn’t have much time for the flirts he peppered into their conversation. </p><p>“Guess we’re off to bed,” the Sneasel said as he stood up from the seat, waving to the Krokorok. He was pretty sure Caroli was her name. He wasn’t paying much attention, but he’ll definitely catch her name next time. “Talk to you later?” </p><p>“Yeah, sure,” the Krokorok said as she stood up. She then waved goodbye to the Sneasel. “Have fun tomorrow. Your first day on a team should be fun.”</p><p>Dice nodded as Sashy suddenly grabbed his hand, causing the Sneasel to yelp from the sudden prick. </p><p>“There’s some people I want you to meet,” he said with a smile as he dragged Dice towards a group of three Pokémon. One was recognizable, the Lucario named Lucca that he saw earlier, but he was accompanied by a Gallade and a Zoroark.</p><p>“Guys! Guys!” Sashy exclaimed as he ran up to the three. “I already showed Lucca, but...I got a partner!” He gestured enthusiastically towards Dice.</p><p>The Gallade chuckled. “I know. I saw during the dinner announcement. It’s great to meet you, Dice.  I’m sure you and Sasha will get along great. My name is Brat.”</p><p>“Hey, ain’t this guy a criminal?” The Zoroark said with a small grin as he eyed the Sneasel up and down. “I think I’ve seen him in the newspaper.”</p><p>“What’s it to you?” Dice shot back as he crossed his arms over his chest.</p><p>“Nothing much. Just making sure I know who to keep an eye on.” </p><p>“This Zoroark here is my partner Loki. I apologize for his behavior.” Brat sounded less than amused.</p><p>“I don’t,” Loki said with a grin. “Just make sure you don’t go filling the kid’s head with bad ideas.”</p><p>“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Dice spoke with a roll of his eyes. </p><p>It was at this point that Sashy decided to insert himself back into the conversation. “Anyways! I just wanted to introduce you to my friends. We gotta go though! It’s been a long day, and we gotta wake up early tomorrow.”</p><p>“Alright,” the Gallade spoke with a smile as the three Pokémon wished Sashy and Dice a good night, with the added bonus of Lucca giving the cactus Pokémon another hug. Once he was let go, Sashy grabbed Dice’s hand against, the little needles digging into him and causing Dice to wince. The kid needed to learn how to be hands free.</p><p>“We gotta go find my room,” the Maractus said as he ran off, following the huge crowd of Pokemon that were flowing out of the dining room. Dice wasn’t paying attention to where they were going, as he knew he would forget where they came from soon afterwards, and eventually they ended up in Sashy’s room. </p><p>The room...wasn’t anything special, honestly. There wasn’t anything but a small desk in the corner of the room, which didn’t even have a chair next to it. There were also two beds that were right in the middle. One of them...clearly looked slept in, while the other looked like it hadn’t been touched in a long time. </p><p>“So, you sleep here?” the Sneasel asked as he approached the bed that hadn’t been slept in. He grabbed the covers and brought them down just enough for him to sit on. “How long have you been sleeping on your own?”</p><p>“Uh...a really long time,” the cactus muttered before shaking his head. “But now I got you! I won’t be alone in this room! I have a partner.” </p><p>Sashy hopped onto his bed and got himself comfortable under the covers. “You know, not every Pokemon gets a room like this. Some Pokemon just can’t sleep in a bed like this, like Ponytas. Those Pokemon either get stables or piles of hay. There’s a different room for all types of Pokemon!” </p><p>“Right, that’s nice.” Dice got himself comfortable on his own bed and sighed. Man, this bed was actually pretty nice. Nice and soft...when had he gotten a resting place like this? Not in a long time. “Well, at least we get the good beds, right?” </p><p>“Yeah!” The cactus pokemon closed his eyes, ready to drift off into sleep. It was going to be difficult, after all the excitement of today, but he’d try. “Now get some sleep. We’re going to have some fun tomorrow!” </p><p>Dice nodded. “Right, okay. Sure.” The Sneasel, now laying on his left side, closed his eyes. He didn’t have any problems falling asleep, unlike his partner. After all that happened, he was dying for a rest. It wasn’t long until he drifted off to sleep.</p>
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<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Training Day</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>There’s a character or two i forgot to introduce last chapter even though I know I wrote it down I have no clue where that section went so uuuuh</p><p>Brat = Gallade<br/>Loki = Zoroark</p><p>They work as Lucca’s team partners okay sorry idk how this happened-</p><p>I edited it into the earlier chapter but I just wanted to state it here in case no one wants to go back and reread.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Alright! Up and at ‘em!” </p><p>Dice’s eyes shot wide open and he jolted up, almost falling out of bed in the process. He moved his weight to the opposite side of the edge of the bed and steady himself. He looked to the door and noticed a Furfrou, standing straight and tall. He was slightly smaller than the others of his species, or at least he was from what Dice had seen. </p><p>Sashy immediately jumped out of bed while Dice reluctantly got out and stretched. “Yeah, yeah, I’m up. No need to yell, prissy.” </p><p>“Prissy?” the dog pokemon asked with a scoff. “Why, I never!” Before Dice could apologize, though he was likely not going to, the Furfrou turned around and dashed out of the room. </p><p>“Hey, you didn’t have to call her prissy!” Sashy said before shaking his head. “Lotty’s a really nice person. You shouldn’t call her names!” </p><p>“Her name is Lotty?” Dice asked before chuckling. “You’re right. I don’t have to be calling her names. I’m sure other people had done that before me.”</p><p>Sashy frowned before shaking his head. All of the things his partner has said had been getting to him, but he had tried his best to not have it ruin his good mood. He hopped out of bed and sighed.</p><p>“Well, come on, we’re going to have a fun day ahead of us, I can tell. First we have to train you and then we have to figure out where to go for our first mission. That should be today. It should probably be something simple, but hey, it should be really fun!” </p><p>“Sounds like a lot of tiring work, honestly,” the Sneasel muttered as he hopped out of bed and stretched. Wow, he hadn’t slept that well in several months now. It felt pretty good. “Guessing that’s going to happen a lot, though, isn’t it?” </p><p>“Oh, yeah, it definitely will!” Sashy seemed far too excited as he made his way out of the room, making maraca noises as he hopped out of the room. Dice shook his head and followed the cactus pokemon out of the room and through the mess of hallways and stuff. </p><p>It wasn’t long until the two of them ended up in the training area. Many Pokemon had already lined up on one of the walls, Magnus the Beedrill buzzing back and forth in front of them, and as Dice and Sashy joined the line, he saw more Pokemon coming into the room. </p><p>“Is everyone supposed to be here?” Dice asked as he kept his eyes on the Beedrill that kept buzzing past him. He had a strange suspicion that he’d get yelled at if he started talking. “Because this room’s really going to get crowded.”</p><p>“Well, some people can be excluded from training,” the cactus said, his voice only a whisper so he wouldn’t get caught speaking. “The stronger teams in the guild usually don’t go to training because normally they’re experienced enough that they don’t need it. Lucca’s team, the Aura Fighters, don’t normally come to training because...they’re the best team in the guild. The only one that shows up on schedule is Brat, and he also helps up with our training.” </p><p>“Well, I hope we can be excused eventually.” That sounded like it’d take a lot of work, though. A lot of work that he didn’t want to put do. His partner may be an ambitious little soul, but Dice himself most certainly wasn’t. </p><p>“Alright, listen up!” The old bee shouted as he looked down the big line of pokemon, consisting of everything from Monfernos to Machamps to Pichus. This guild really did have a place for everyone. “We’re going to have a special day of training today. Instead of focusing on all of your skills, we’re going to put your training to the test.”  </p><p>Dice frowned just slightly at this and crossed his arms. He took a glance at Sashy, who looked back at him and just shrugged, seeming to not know what the Beedrill was talking about either. </p><p>“What you have to do is pick another Pokemon. That’s your opponent. This training session is going to be the two of you fighting until one surrenders. No serious injuries, please, and don’t pick a Pokemon that’s weaker than you. Show some integrity.” </p><p>There was a huge amount of clutter as people turned to their partner on the team and talked about how they were just going to fight each other, to see which one was the better Pokemon or whatever. The only thing that made the Pokemon be quiet was the loud buzzing that rose over the crowd’s noise. </p><p>“I’m not finished yet!” Magnus shouted as he looked down the line, his eyes seeming to narrow just slightly. “There’s one more rule. You cannot pick your team partner to fight. You know your partner. You know how they fight. When you’re out in the field, you won’t know how your opponents fight. Pick someone from a different team to fight. Now go ahead and pick someone!” </p><p>“Oh, guess we can’t fight each other,” Sashy muttered as he began to look around the room, though his partner didn’t seem eager to find someone to fight him. “I’m going to go see if anyone wants to fight me. I’ll see you later, okay Dice?”</p><p>“Oh, uh, yeah, sure,” the Sneasel said with a nod just as the Maractus ran off to choose an opponent. He looked around the room at all of the Pokemon that were teaming up. A Mankey went with a Makuhita, a Stantler went with a Quilava, and a Smoochum had even decided to tussle with a Gumshoos. He would probably wait until everyone had a partner and see if anyone was remaining. If not...oh well. He’d just excuse himself from a fight. </p><p>As he just stood there and watch everyone partner up, a hand had suddenly grabbed his shoulder. He tensed up and quickly turned around, his ears perked up slightly. What he saw was none other than Edison Sault, bowtie still neatly around his neck and a small smile on his face. </p><p>“I believe you wanted to battle, correct?” Edison asked as the smile on his face grew. “While normally I would avoid that kind of activity, I will make an exception today.” </p><p>Dice’s body relaxed once he registered who it was and he chuckled, crossing his arms together. “So, you really do want to go through with this, Eddie?” </p><p>Dice noticed that Edison’s expression changed. For just a moment, the smile was replaced with a frown and his eyes narrowed slightly. Though, the expression disappeared as soon as it had appeared, as soon after he was back to smiling at the Sneasel. “Yes, I do. I think it will be an interesting experience.” </p><p>Dice nodded. “Right, let’s get going then,” he said before turning around to get to one of the fighting rings. Though, before he could move, Edison grabbed his shoulder and turned him around once more. </p><p>“You’re going to have to wait, Dice,” the man said. “It isn’t our turn yet, and besides, we have to talk to Guild Leader Magnus before we even think about getting in the ring.” </p><p>Dice shrugged. “Alright, let’s go find him, then,” he said as he began to move towards the Beedrill. It wasn’t hard to spot him due to his color scheme, and the fact that he was a giant Beedrill. He was definitely as big as an Ampharos at least, and every time his wings moved he let out a buzzing sound. Not difficult to see or hear in a crowd. </p><p>“Okay, I picked someone to fight,” the Sneasel said as soon as Magnus was done talking to Brat, who didn’t seem to have a partner. Though he may have been excluded from fighting due to how strong he was. “When can we go in?” </p><p>The guild leader turned to the pair and looked between the two of them. Judging by how long it took for him to speak, at least a few seconds, he was a bit confused. “Edison Sault? Didn’t expect you to challenge anyone. You sure you want to do it?” </p><p>“I think it was more like I was challenged. Around yesterday, in fact, and yes, I am certain that I want to do this.” </p><p>The Beedrill frowned but soon after shrugged as much as he could before nodding. “Right, well, guess I can’t deny a matchup like this. Go ahead. You’ll be after the Azumarill and the Xatu.” </p><p>Dice nodded. “Sounds good,” he said. Ah, so it would be one at a time. That’s good. He had thought for a moment that they were all going to fight at once. That was bound to be a disaster, however. Good thing they thought otherwise. </p><p>“And I suppose we wait now,” the Elekid said as he walked away from the Beedrill, Dice following close behind him. “What do you wish to do in that time? We could talk and get to know each other before beating each other senseless in the ring.” </p><p>“Do they have first aid kits here or something?” Sneasel asked. “I mean, this seems kind of dangerous if they expect you to go out on quests the same day. The bug knows that, right?” </p><p>“Well, yes, Magnus realizes this,” the Elekid said, seeming to not like the fact that Dice called the guild leader a bug. “But he believes rigorous training and working under strain shows the best results. He does not let up on even the beginners. You’ll be given your first quest after this training sessions.” </p><p>“And what is that going to be?” </p><p>“I can’t say for certain, but most likely we’ll let the Aura Fighters pick for you. Lucca and Brat are good at evaluating teams. They’ll give you a simple mission.” </p><p>Dice nodded and before he could say anything else, a huge buzzing noise rang through the room once more. Jeez, if that was going to happen all the time then he was going to go deaf. </p><p>“Alright, everyone should have been given a partner now,” Magnus said, his voice coming from somewhere in the middle of the room. “So, what we’re going to do is run two fights at once. One fight will be observed by me, and Brat will observe the other battle.” </p><p>“And we expect you all to fight fairly and to the best of your abilities,” said a voice that Dice recognized from last night. It was definitely the Gallade, Brat. “No cheating, and just remember that all that matters is that you tried your best.” </p><p>“Exactly!” Magnus then floated to one of the two rings in the room, while Brat walked to the other. “Now, Motoma the Prinplup and Tyke the Drowzee come with me, and the Sunflora and Vileplume go with Brat.”</p><p>“Synthia and Petals,” Brat said. Those were most likely the names of the two grass types that were called up. </p><p>“Right, those two,” Magnus muttered before clearing his throat. “Let the battles begin!” </p><p>Then, one after one, the battles began. Dice didn’t really pay too much attention to them. Only when there were some interesting matchups did he bother to look up at the fights. There were a few surprising results, too. A Pichu had actually won against the Gumshoos, somehow, and the Krokorok that Dice had talked to yesterday, Caroli, had won against a Golduck. That was one of the most evenly matched fights that he’s seen in awhile. </p><p>Eventually, the Azmuarill and Xatu had gone up to the ring. Dice wasn’t sure if the two had some tension between them, but they really beated on each other during the fight. Neither of them refused to stay down, but in the end the Azumarill had won, and she seemed pretty proud of herself.</p><p>Next team!” The guild leader shouted out as the Xatu limped out of the ring and the Azumarill triumphantly skipped out of the room. “Edison Sault vs. Dice! Get up here you two.”</p><p>As soon as Dice heard his name, he chuckled and looked at the Elekid next to him. “Looks like this is it, Eddie.” </p><p>“Yes, it seems like it,” the electric type muttered as he adjusted his bowtie. “Well, let’s get going. We wouldn’t want to keep anyone waiting, would we?”</p><p>And with that said, they both headed to the ring, Dice feeling confident with himself. This was going to be fun!</p>
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<a name="section0006"><h2>6. An Electrifying Battle</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Dice walked to one side of the ring, and Edison walked to the other side. He grinned as he faced his opponent, who was currently adjusting his black bow tie. Dice chuckled.</p><p>“Don’t worry, I’ll try to not tear it up too much.” The Sneasel unsheathed his claws and shook his head. “Emphasis on try, though. Not making any promises.”</p><p>“Will I be making the first move?” Edison asked as he put his hands down to his side. “Or are you going to keep talking? Neither of us have all day.” </p><p>“Getting a bit impatient,” Dice commented before nodding. Best not to keep everyone waiting.  “Yeah, you make the first move, Eddy. Long as you make it quick.” </p><p>“Oh, I’m sure this will be quick,” Edison muttered with a roll of his eyes before, suddenly, he charged at Dice at an incredible speed. </p><p>The Sneasel’s eyes widened and he rolled out of the way, Edison almost falling out of the ring due to his continued momentum. Dice then made a fist with his left hand. With only a second of concentration, his hand turned as cold as ice, the freezing temperature radiating off of himand into the air. Dice turned around and swung at Edison. </p><p>The Elekid, though, had the same idea. He had spun his arm around, catching it on fire in the process. Once his fist had caught on fire, he had also swung at his opponent. They ended up hitting each other’s fists, causing a collision of ice and fire. The two pokemon were pushed back, but Dice looked like he was worse off than Edison. </p><p>“How do you know that?” Dice muttered as he covered his now burnt left hand with his right. That was definitely going to hurt later on. God, the mission after this was going to suck...</p><p>“My father had taught it to me,” the Elekid said, a smile on his face to show his pride. “It burnt at first, but I got used to it.” </p><p>“You’re tougher than I thought.” Dice shook his head as his claws glowed, becoming a more metallic substance than their normal keratin material. “But not tough enough.” </p><p>Edison did not respond, however. Instead, he rushed at Dice once more, going at a speed that was almost difficult to process. Dice expected this, however, and moved out of the way once more. As the Elekid moved past him, Dice swiped at the electric type, knocking him to the side when he made contact. </p><p>Edison quickly stood back up just as Dice took a deep breath and exhaled, releasing a bitterly cold wind. Edison covered his eyes from the stinging wind and brought up a yellow screen of light to protect him. It was his moment to take a breather, which he eagerly did. </p><p>Dice, though, used this as an opportunity to attack. He charged right at the square of light and, like Edison before, he was going at an incredible pace, movements practically a blur. The Elekid had tried to hit him with a bolt of  blue electricity, which went right through the screen, but Dice had moved out of the way just before it hit. He then leaped over the square of light and landed behind the Elekid, just barely avoiding his horns. </p><p>Dice then turned around and started swiping at Edison, all of the attacks making contact, and Dice didn’t look like he was letting up anytime soon, but Edison was proven surprisingly resilient. He was even fighting back by trying to throw in a few punches, which Dice couldn’t help but admire. </p><p>Suddenly, Edison grabbed one of Dice’s arms. The electric type’s hand caught on fire as soon as contact was made, causing the ice type to wince in pain. </p><p>Edison then brought his other hand, which was now also flaming, back before swinging it at the Sneasel once more. He hit once, twice, three times, and it sent Dice flying out of the ring and landing on the ground with a thud. </p><p>Dice groaned and didn’t get back up. He was burnt and in a lot of pain. Getting up now would be stupid, so instead, he just laid there, trying to process what just happened. How did he lose? He thought this would be easy….</p><p>“And the winner is Edison Sault!” Magnus shouted, his voice rising over all of the commotion of the fight. “Pretty quick fight, too. You two don’t mess around. Good jo.” </p><p>“It seems I have won,” the Elekid said as he walked to Dice and offered to help him up, a triumphant grin on his face. Instead of accepting the pokemon’s help, Dice got up on his own and nodded. “It was surprisingly fun. I don’t think I had an actual fight in...a long time.” </p><p>“Glad you had fun,” Dice muttered as he looked at his hand. He had a nasty burn there, but there wasn’t anything bandages couldn’t fix, right? “So, your father taught you how to catch your hand on fire? Seemed like a good father.” </p><p>Edison, for once, actually chuckled. “Yes, well, he was very serious about fighting. He was a Medicham, after all. Fighting types are usually all fighting, no manners. With...an exception to some, of course. Lucca comes to mind. He taught me everything I knew about fighting. Perhaps you should try learning proper fighting technique as well.”</p><p>“I’ll hit the books later,” Dice said as he crossed his arms over his chest. “My parents weren’t the same. They were...pretty nice, I think. A Weavile and a...Lopunny, I think? I really can’t remember.” </p><p>“You’ve been away from your parents, then?” Edison adjusted his bowtie, which surprisingly came out of that fight unharmed. “I grew up with my parents my whole life. They were very strict.” </p><p>“Yeah, been away. You could say that.” </p><p>The Elekid nodded. “Right, well, I have things to do now. I’m a busy pokemon, as you probably know. I can’t stay here all day. Do tell me how Sashy’s battle goes, though. I am curious.” </p><p>Dice nodded as the Elekid began to walk away. He waved him goodbye. “See you later, Eddie. Maybe we can fight again next time.” </p><p>The Elekid didn’t respond, and before he could say anything else, Sashy had hopped towards him, a smile on his face as he did. “Dice! That fight was awesome! You both did really well!” </p><p>Dice shook his head. “Yeah, if you say so,” he said before looking at his burnt hand. Man...that was really going to hurt later. “Too bad I didn’t win, though.” </p><p>“Yeah, but don’t worry! I’m sure you’ll win the next fight...whenever that is!” He chuckled and looked at the ring that Brat was overseeing.</p><p>“Well, pretty sure at least.” The boy smiled before looking to his partner. His smile was replaced with a look of confusion and he tilted his head. “Um...Dice? Who’s behind you?” </p><p>“Huh?” The sneasel turned around only to be met with another Sneasel. It wasn’t just another Sneasel, though. It looked exactly like him, even copying his body language. </p><p>“Gotta say, that really was some good fighting,” the pokemon said with a chuckle, and it didn’t take long for Dice to recognize the voice. It was also a voice he had heard last night. It was Loki, the Zoroark.</p><p>“Okay, wow, you’re wierd,” Dice muttered as he took a few steps back from the disguised Pokemon. As he did, though, the Sneasel features started to disappear and be replaced by the features of a Zoroark.</p><p>“Well, you know what they say,” Loki said as soon as he morphed back to normal. “Imitation is the best form of flattery.” </p><p>“I don’t think I like being flattered,” Dice muttered before shaking his head. “Alright, well, what do you want?” </p><p>“Well, you still got a mission to do today, don’t you?” The Zoroark chuckled. “Lucca’s running some errands and buying you some stuff to prepare you on your mission. I’ll be the one deciding it for you.” </p><p>“Oh boy...that’s fun,” Dice muttered before shaking his head. “Well, let’s go, I guess. I don’t think the bee’s going to like it if I stand around all day.” </p><p>“Oh, you’re catching on. Lovely.” The Zoroark grinned before walking towards the exit of the training room. Sneasel watched the illusion pokemon before deciding to follow, Sashy following close behind. </p><p>“You sure it’s a good idea for him to pick our mission?” he asked, turning to his partner who was hopping next to him. That was obviously his main way of movement. Not that he blamed the guy, considering he didn’t have much in terms of feet. Or legs for that matter. </p><p>“I don’t see why not,” the maractus said with a shrug. “I mean, if he’s a part of the Aura Fighters then he should be able to pick a good mission for us. Besides, he’s my friend. He wouldn’t send us out for a difficult mission.” </p><p>“If you say so,” Sneasel muttered before looking forward once more. Though he really didn’t have a good feeling about this, he let the Zoroark lead them to the mission room. After getting beaten by an assistant, he wondered what else was going to come up and surprise him…</p>
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<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Mission Accepted</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Been a while huh? Sorry about that. I'll try to get back to normal uploading but I've just been busy,</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“So, how long have you been in the guild?” Dice asked as they walked through one of the many hallways the building had. It’s a surprise anyone could navigate through the maze that was this building. Though, Dice not having a sense of direction didn’t help. </p><p>“For a long time,” Loki said before shaking his head, causing his ponytailed hair to almost hit the ice type right in the face. You’d think this guy never had a haircut before… “But seriously, I’ve been in this guild for...I don’t even know how long exactly. Several years, I know that much. Me and the rest of the team go way back.” </p><p>“Well, how old were you when you join the guild?” </p><p>Loki clicked his tongue as he tried to think of the answer, running his hand along the wooden walls of the hallway. Apparently his memory wasn’t perfect. </p><p>“I don’t remember much of when I was younger...I think I was around Sashy’s age, though. I was still a Zorua at the time. Brat was a Kirlia when we first formed the team, and Lucca was a Riolu we had met while on a mission. We saved him from an angry Primeape and he hasn’t left us since.” </p><p>“And you just took him in? You didn’t even know the guy, though. He could have been dangerous.” </p><p>Loki shook his head. “Trust me, Lucca’s really sweet. I know for a fact that he wouldn’t hurt anyone unless he absolutely has to. You’ve seen the guy, haven’t you?” </p><p>“Well, yeah, I’ve seen him, but-” </p><p>“Then that should be enough for you.” Loki looked behind him at the two pokemon and chuckled before looking forward once more. “Oh, hey, we’re here.”</p><p>Dice blinked and looked around his surroundings. Sure enough, they were in the mission room. The telltale sign was the huge bulletin board on both sides of the room. This was definitely one of the most recognizable rooms in the guild. </p><p>“Let’s see what we can send you out to do,” Loki said as he walked towards the bulletin that was for general missions like finding lost items. At least he wasn’t sending them out to catch criminals. That sounds very challenging.</p><p>“Got anything particular in mind?” Dice asked as he joined Loki at the bulletin board, Shashy following close behind, but eyeing the area where all the temples were. Well, Dice knew where his partner was going before they left… </p><p>“Not really,” Loki muttered before grabbing one of the papers and looking down at it. He hummed in thought before nodding and looked towards Dice. “This seems good. Kid lost in a cave. Shouldn’t be too hard for you.” </p><p>Loki then turned to the stand that was between the two billboards, where a Hoothoot perched, seeming to be in a deep sleep. Loki walked to the stand and tapped his hand against the wooden surface of the stand. </p><p>“Hey, Noctal, wake up. We got some things to ask you.” </p><p>The owl’s eyes suddenly shot open and it let out a loud squawk, causing Dice to cover his sensitive ears. He thought owls were supposed to be quiet… </p><p>“Who…? Who…?” The Hoothoot looked around for a moment before noticing Loki. His eyes narrowed just slightly and he cleared his throat. “Oh, yes, Loki. What is it that you want?” </p><p>The Zoroark placed the piece of paper in front of Noctal. “Take a look at this. Want to know what you think about this quest for the new team.” </p><p>“Hmm?” The Hoothoot looked down at the paper and Dice noticed his eyes rapidly moving back and forth, scanning the page. “Ornatro Cavern? Well, I’m surprised to figure out this even made it to the guild. It’s a far ways away. I would’ve thought it’d go to some place closer to the caverns, but it’s not impossible...you really think they should go there?” </p><p>“I don’t see why not,” Loki said with a shrug. “I mean, it’s not <i>that</i> dangerous. Just risky enough for a new mission, and it’s not like I’m having them hunt down a bandit or anything.” </p><p>“What’s Ornatro Cavern?” Sashy asked with a tilt of his head, causing his rabbit-like ears to tilt to one side just slightly. “And why is it dangerous?” </p><p>“Ornatro Cavern is a system of caves that are filled with all different kinds of gems. It used to be a place to mine gemstones for things such as religious ceremonies, or just because they look nice. There’s normally only purple gemstones, which is why Palkia worshippers often visit for a gemstone, however you can find blue, green and even red.” </p><p>“Doesn’t sound so bad,” Dice said with a chuckle. “Heck, we can even grab a gemstone or two and try to sell them off. I think we’d make a pretty penny from that.” </p><p>Hoothoot shook his head. “But the problem is that the further you go down in the cave, the more poisonous the air gets. It’s not noticeable at the top, but the further you go in, you’ll start to feel nauseous and dizzy. You’ll start seeing things and become disoriented. Normally only rock, ground, ghost and poison types can handle such condition.” </p><p>“Oh, so that’s why the kid that got lost was a Drifloon,” Loki muttered as he turned the paper around to read it once more. “Well, that explains a lot, actually.” </p><p>“Are you sure we can go in there, then?” Sashy asked with a frown. “It sounds like we may not be able to get out, and I don’t like that thought..” </p><p>“Nah, I’m sure you’ll be fine,” he said with a shake of his head. “I’m sure the kid’s not that far down in the cave system, and if you can’t make it, just come back. We’ll have some other team starting out. I think I saw a Ghastly and Misdreavus that were just starting out. I’m sure they’d be interested.” </p><p>“Well, we can try it for now, at least.” Dice leaned against the stand as he spoke. “It can’t be that bad, right? I’m sure we know our limits. Anything else we should worry about?” </p><p>“Yes, actually,” Noctal said. “As you most likely heard from Sora, the Pokemon outside the borders of the cities are becoming more and more vicious. Rabid, even. I suggest that if you go there, be ready for a fight. Some Pokemon may attack you, and that’s very bad for this Sneasel right here.” </p><p>He gestured towards Dice and the ice type chuckled. “Oh, really?” he asked. “And why’s that?” </p><p>“Well, aside from the ground types and the occasional poison types, there are also steel and rock types there. I’m not sure if you figured this out growing up, but ice and rocks don’t mix very well.” </p><p>Dice nodded. “Right, right. I got it,” he said as he moved away from the stand. “I’ve handled a lot worse than some rock types who think they’re tough. Either way, I think we’re taking this mission. What do you think, kid?” </p><p>He turned to his Maractus partner and the grass type looked down at the ground. “Well...I guess we could try.” The cactus shrugged. “We may not succeed, but we could try, at least.” </p><p>“Alright. Then it’s settled.” Loki grabbed the paper with the job information on it and handed it to Dice, who took it and rolled it up. “So, let’s get you to the station. It’s a long trip to the caverns. We gotta start your journey as soon as possible.” </p><p>“Oh, uh...can you...give me a moment?” Sashy asked, gesturing towards the path on the opposite side of the room. “I sort of want to visit the shrine.” </p><p>Loki chuckled. “Sure, go ahead. I understand.” The cactus pokemon nodded and ran towards the room that held all of the religious shrines. He shook his head and looked to Dice. “You want to join him?” </p><p>The Sneasel shook his head. “I don’t think I need to visit,” he said. “I don’t need any divine intervention to help me out here.” </p><p>“I see you got confidence. Good thing, too. You need that around here if you want to get up the ranks.” The Zoroark smiled. “Brat and Lucca always visit the shrine before we go out on a mission. I usually just wait for them by the doorway.” </p><p>“Really? They don’t strike me as very religious people.” </p><p>“Oh, I’m sure a lot of people in here don’t. Doesn’t mean there aren’t many religious people here. Most people have a god they pray to before leaving the guild. Sometimes they ask for strength, or wisdom, or just good luck.”</p><p>“Even the guild leaders pray,” Noctal commented, and the two glanced towards the bird. “I’ve seen them leave that room when I wake up in the middle of the day. Honestly, not having a god you pray to at least once in awhile is the minority. Not just in the guild, but around the world.”</p><p>“Exactly.” Loki chuckled. “What about you, Noctal? Is there a sleeping god that you pray to all the time? Because I feel like that’s the only way you can sleep through the whole day.” </p><p>“Well, if you count Darkrai as a god and not a demon, then I suppose there is one,” the bird answered. “Doesn’t mean that I pray to him, though. I don’t think many people would pray to a god such as that.” </p><p>“Dark types would, you know. They’re all about that kind of stuff.” </p><p>“Yes, well, you know dark types. They often-” Noctal stopped himself as he looked between the two pokemon. He shook his head and looked down at his foot. “Well, never mind. My point is that entities such as Darkrai are not as popular when it comes to worship.” </p><p>Dice chuckled. “Sure you don’t want to keep talking?” He leaned against the stand once more. “I kind of want to hear your opinion on dark types.” </p><p>“I think I’d like that, too.” Dice glanced at the Zoroark next to him and held back a laugh. </p><p>Noctal frowned as best as he could, but it was difficult to do with a beak. He hopped back slightly and shook his head. He then started slowly hopping back and forth. He seemed rather uncomfortable as he looked between the two dark types. “Well, uh...you see, um…” </p><p>“Okay, I’m back!” Dice turned around, much to Noctal’s relief, and saw Sashy bouncing towards him. He smiled and waved at the kid. “Sorry that it took so long. I just...wanted to make sure I had mentioned everything I wanted to.” </p><p>“Well, hopefully your Groudon can help you in the caves,” Dice said with a chuckle before looking at Loki. “So, we’re going on our way now?” </p><p>He nodded. “Yeah, we’re off,” he said before walking towards one of the paths out of the room. “I told Lucca to meet us at the station, so you don’t have to worry about not being prepared.” </p><p>Both Dice and Sashy nodded as they followed the Zoroark through the halls of the adventure guild. After only a few minutes, they made it to the front door, where Alaze the Simisear, Cumuli the Simipour, and Greny the Simisage stood near the door. Cumuli noticed Loki and smiled before walking towards him. </p><p>“Hi, Loki!” The monkey pokemon waved at the guild member. “What’s your team doing? We saw Lucca leave the guild an hour or two ago, and now you’re leaving. Are you going on some big mission? Oh, you just have to tell me about it when you come back!” </p><p>Loki shook his head, an amused grin on his muzzle. “No, no. That’s not it.” He turned to the two Pokemon following him and patted Dice on the head, even though the ice-type didn’t appreciate it much. “I’m just sending the new team off on their first mission. Lucca went out to buy supplies for them.” </p><p>“Oh, that’s really nice of you!” The water type let out a giggle and turned to the Sneasel and Maractus. “Then you two have to tell me about your adventure when you come back! I want to know all the details!” </p><p>“Cumuli,” Ginseng said as she walked towards her sister, gently putting a hand on her shoulder. “You realize that you ask this of every team when they go out for a mission, right? They can’t stay here all day and tell you what happened while they were out.” </p><p>“Oh, but it’s so exciting, sister dear!” Cumuli turned to her sister and pouted, similar to a child. “You can’t expect me not to ask question! It’s so exciting and dramatic! I’d love to be able to go through adventures such as that…” </p><p>“And I’m sure we will, one day.” The grass type didn’t sound that hopeful, however. She shook her head. “Either way, we can’t keep these three here all day. They have places to be.” </p><p>“Oh, right! Of course!” Cumuli stepped away and gestured to the door. “Off you go, brave adventurers! Go forth and be true dungeon crawlers! Make the guild proud, and let the evil of the world feel your painful sting!” </p><p>Loki chuckled. “Thanks, Cumuli,” he said as Dice and Sashy moved towards the door. “And if you really want, I can tell you about a couple of the missions I’ve been on. Maybe over lunch or something?” </p><p>The Simipour’s eyes seemed to sparkle out of excitement as she clapped her hands together. “Oh, yes yes yes! I would absolutely love that! Thank you so much, Loki!” </p><p>“No problem. Meet you at the cafe down the street, then? Let’s say an hour from now?” </p><p>“That sounds great! I’d love that.” </p><p>Loki nodded. “See you then.” he then quickly caught up with Dice and Sashy, who were waiting at the door for the dark type. </p><p>As they stepped out into the bustling city of Strikelm, light from the sun shining down on them, Dice chuckled and gently elbowed the Zoroark’s waist, since it was the tallest thing he reach. Loki looked down at him. </p><p>“So, you got a thing for Cumuli?” he asked with a grin on his face as he crossed his arms over his chest. “I didn’t think you’d like someone like her, but to each their own.” </p><p>Loki shook his head. “Oh, no. We’re just friends,” he said. “I mean, I’ve been telling her stories for a few months now, and at first it was to get her to stop asking me and my team every time we came back from a mission. I was taking one for the team, you know? But after a while...I actually liked hanging out with her. Besides, even if I did like her, I’m pretty sure she sees me as a brother to her.” </p><p>“I didn’t know you and Cumuli were that close,” Sashy said as he hopped along the two dark-types. “How often do you go have lunch with her?” </p><p>“At least twice a week. It’s not that big of a deal, really. I didn’t tell anyone because they don’t need to know.” </p><p>“That’s understandable,” Dice said with a shrug. “I have that same feeling at times.” </p><p>“Exactly. Now, let’s get going. Your ride isn’t going to wait that long.”</p>
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<a name="section0008"><h2>8. A Long Ride</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>A long ride to their destination leads to Dice revealing more about who he was and how he came into his situation.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Two chapters in one night let's go. This was just a way to kind of apologize in a way and speed up the uploading process.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The station that would lead Pokemon in and out of Strikelm was always busy. With the hustle and bustle of people visiting the city, or just trying to move out and leave, Mudsdale and Rapidash came and left, carrying passengers and their luggage, which stayed in carts the horse pokemon had to pull behind them as they walked. With the news of the outside world becoming more dangerous, more and more pokemon preferred travelling via Rapidash rather than going on foot. </p><p>Once the group of three made it there, they attempted to navigate through the crowd, looking for a pokemon that would be strong enough to take them to Ornatro Cavern. There were a wide selection of pokemon, too. Most were Mudsdale and Rapidash, but there was the occasional Sawsbuck, Stantler, and even Girafarig, who were probably all just looking to make quick cash by moving pokemon from one city to another. </p><p>“Since there’s going to be two of you, and you don’t weigh that much, I think you should take a Rapidash,” Loki had said once he spotted one of the fiery horses. “Of course, that may be a problem for you, Dice, but I doubt the Rapidash will hurt you that much.”</p><p>“I think I’d prefer a Mudsdale,” Dice muttered as he watched one of said Pokemon walk out of the station with a Wigglytuff and her Igglybuff child on it’s back. “Fire isn’t my thing. I’m sure you know that.” </p><p>“Yeah, yeah. I know.” Loki chuckled. “Just don’t get too picky while picking a ride. You probably want to leave as soon as possible. </p><p>Dice was about to open his mouth, probably to suggest which pokemon to take for a ride, but then, out of the noise of the crowd, they heard a distinct, “Guys!” </p><p>The group of three turned around just in time to see a Lucario run towards them, a bag slung around the dog-like pokemon’s shoulder. It was obviously Lucca. Dice had no doubts about that, and when the fighting type ran up and scooped them into a hug, it just confirmed his assumption. </p><p>“There you are!” The Lucario smiled and nuzzled his head against Dice, which he really didn’t like. He didn’t think a Lucario would be so affectionate… “I was wondering when you would get here!”</p><p>“Yeah! We got here as soon as we could,” Sashy had said as Lucario let both of them go, causing them to fall to the ground. Luckily, both of them landed on their feet. “We’re ready to go on our mission!” </p><p>“Well, no you’re not.” The Lucario shook his head before slipping the bag off of his shoulder and handing it to Dice. He grabbed it and slung it around his own shoulder, adjusting the length of the strap so that it didn’t drag against the ground while it was on his arm. “Now you are!” </p><p>“Oh, so this is all the stuff you were buying for us?” Dice opened the bag up and looked inside, and he saw, out of the corner of his eye, that Sashy was also looking into the bag, leaning towards Dice just slightly so he could take a look. </p><p>The first thing Dice had noticed was the money. His eye was naturally attracted to shiny objects, so seeing all the money that was stacked up has definitely grabbed his attention. There were some other objects in the bag, too. Some seeds, some berries, some apples and other snacks, and even two bottles of water. They were all put into neat little groups inside the bag. It’s a surprise they didn’t get all mixed up while the Lucario was running. </p><p>“There’s a lot of stuff in here,” Sashy muttered as Dice put the paper that had their quest information into the bag before closing it. “And I’m guessing we’re going to need all of it?” </p><p>“No, not all of it,” Loki answered with a shake of the head. “Not if you’re skilled enough, at least. If you do a good job on this mission, odds are that at most you’re going to use an apple or two. But don’t worry about using some of the things in there. You got money. You should be able to buy some more if you really need to.”</p><p>“Yeah, and if you think you need anything else, just go ahead and buy it!” Lucca smiled. “You’ll get money if you complete the mission. Sure, most of it goes to the guild, but they’ll give you some of it, at least. Don’t be afraid of spending your money.”</p><p>“Alright...thanks, Lucca.” As Sashy spoke, Dice looked around the crowd and at all of the pokemon around him. There were so many choices to pick from, and he wasn’t sure if it really mattered which one he picked. Sure, Rapidash were faster, but...the fire on it wouldn’t make for a comfortable ride. A Mudsdale wouldn’t hurt, but it goes slower, which leads to a longer trip...</p><p>“No problem, Sashy.” The Lucario patted the cactus pokemon on the head. Dice still found it impressive how they’d willingly touch a cactus. That either takes a lot of courage, or a lack of brains. “We just want to help a friend! It’s the least we could do.” </p><p>Loki nodded. “This is your dream, after all. We want to make sure that it goes off to a good start, and that your first mission is a good one.” </p><p>“Oh...you guys are the best.” Sashy looked like he wanted to wrap the two pokemon in a hug. </p><p>Dice smiled just slightly at seeing the boy so happy, but after a moment of staring at the Maractus, he turned to see a Mudsdale close to the group of four. He walked to the pokemon and waved. </p><p>“Hey, how much do you pay?” he asked as he glanced behind him to see his partner still talking with his friends. </p><p>“It depends on where you’re going,” the Mudsdale answered. “But wherever you’re going, I’ll take you there as fast as I can. No scenic routes or anything.” </p><p>“That’s definitely what I want to hear.” Dice chuckled. “How much is it to go to Ornatro Cavern and then back? We need to go in there for a mission.” </p><p>“Ornatro Cavern?” the Mudsdale asked with a raise of an eyebrow. “That’s quite a ways away, you know, but for there and back…” </p><p>Dice could practically see the gears in the ground type’s (most likely) small brain turning as it tried to think of a good sum. He doubted Mudsdales were the smartest thing in Dualsa. </p><p>“Two hundred Pokedollars,” he said. “I won’t have anything less.” </p><p>“Sounds like a good deal to me.” Dice said with a grin. “Now I just have to get my partner and we’ll go. How long’s the trip, anyways?” </p><p>“A few hours, I think,” the Mudsdale said as Dice turned around to face his partner. The Sneasel couldn’t help but let out a light groan at this, but nevertheless, he cupped his hands over his mouth to call to his partner. </p><p>“Hey!” he called out. “If you’re done talking, we have a cavern to get to. Get moving.” </p><p>The Maractus’s ears perked up and he looked towards the ice type. He nodded and then hopped towards him, waving goodbye to the two pokemon he was talking to moments ago. “Alright, let’s get going.” </p><p>Dice nodded and gestured towards the Mudsdale, who towered over the two smaller pokemon. “Here, I’ll help you on,” he said as he got behind the boy and tried to grab the few parts of him that didn’t have spikes. </p><p>“Oh, okay! Thanks!” Sashy chuckled, but that only lasted for a second as Dice threw him up and onto the Mudsdale’s back. Sashy had actually almost fallen off, but he was able to keep himself steady and stay on the back of the pokemon. </p><p>Dice then noticed a problem with his plan and he frowned. Oh, wait, how was he going to get up now? Though, he didn’t think for long as hands suddenly wrapped around his body and he was lifted into the air. </p><p>“Let me help you with that, bud,” he heard Loki say as he was lifted onto the Mudsdale back. Once the Sneasel was situated and wasn’t in danger of falling off, he looked towards Loki and glared at him. </p><p>“Give me a warning next time,” he muttered, but Loki just chuckled. </p><p>“See you later.” The Zoroark then pat the Mudsdale’s body and the mule pokemon took off. It wasn’t as fast as a Rapidash or anything, but it was enough to surprise Dice and have him grab onto Sashy in fear of falling off. </p><p>“Woah!” Sashy had exclaimed as he, too, felt like he was going to fall off. “Okay, maybe the start was a bit too fast.” </p><p>“Sorry,” the Mudsdale said as they moved through the town, buildings passing by them and pokemon staying in their vision for only a few moments before leaving their sight. “But if we want to get to Ornatro Cavern as fast as possible, I need to move quickly.” </p><p>“Right, whatever you say.” Dice shook his head and tapped the mule pokemon’s back. “Hey, what’s your name anyways? Or are we not on a first name basis?” </p><p>“My name is Stalwart.” Already they had left the town, though that wasn’t saying much, as the station lay close to the edge of town, but it had gotten Dice hopes up that maybe this ride wouldn't take that long. “And you two are?” </p><p>“I’m Sashy, and my friend’s Dice!” Sashy had answered before Dice could even open his mouth. He must have been eager to introduce himself. “We just became a rescue team yesterday! We’re going on our first mission today!” </p><p>“I heard you were on a mission today.” The Mudsdale then made a sudden right turn, and it took all that Dice had to make sure he didn’t fall off his ride. “I didn’t know it was your first mission, though. Sounds exciting.” </p><p>“Oh, it is!” Sashy chuckled as he seemed to have no problems keeping a hold on the pokemon. “We’re going to Ornatro Caverns. Have you been there before?” </p><p>“Well, I’ve been there a few times. I’ve been just about everywhere you can be. I have many stories to tell, you know.” </p><p>“Oh, really? Could you tell me some?” </p><p>“Of course! Now, there was this one time that…” </p><p>This was when Dice tuned out and instead began to take in his surroundings. As they moved along the path, they started to enter a forest, trees surrounding both sides of the path and by now making it impossible to go off of the path. Dice could see Mankeys moving through the trees, Venomoth being chased by Beedrill (which reminded him of Magnus, the guild leader), and he saw the shapes of some bigger pokemon moving among the trees. The forest truly was alive. </p><p>Of course, Dice couldn’t help but wonder how many fights were starting to break out in these forests. If what Sora said was true, and pokemon were becoming more hostile, then it must be very dangerous living in the forests. Maybe a lot of fights happened here, and he just couldn’t see them. </p><p>Dice then glanced at Sashy, who was now in full conversation with the Mudsdale, who’d sometimes stop the conversation to tell some long winded story about how he took so and so to some place. Dice had to admit, the kid was very excited about the mission. This was obviously something he had been waiting for for a long time. </p><p>The Sneasel didn’t think he could imagine being unable to do something he wanted to do. Whenever he wanted to do something, he was always able to do it. Heck, that’s what being a thief was all about, right? Doing things you wanted to do? Sashy had to wait for years to do this. Years to just leave the city walls. He couldn’t imagine waiting for so long…</p><p>“Dice?” The Sneasel blinked and shook himself out of his thoughts, focusing now on the grass type in front of him, who was staring at him with a curious tilt of the head and a small frown. Oh, he had been staring. </p><p>“Are you okay? Something wrong?”</p><p>“Nah, I was just thinking. Don’t worry about me.” Dice attempted to dismiss the Maractus’s worries with a wave of his hand, and that seemed to work, as the grass type just shrugged. </p><p>“Hey, can I ask you something, Dice?” The Sneasel tilted his head and hummed questioningly, and Sashy took it as a sign to continue. “How’d you get caught? You said you were arrested and you’re in the guild for some community service. What did you do?” </p><p>A grin slowly grew on Dice’s face and he chuckled. “I’ve done a lot of things, kid,” he answered. “A lot of crimes. Didn’t get caught for all of them, thankfully, or else this guild may not be an option.” </p><p>“But...how did you get caught, then? If you did so much? Shouldn’t you have been good enough to not get caught?” </p><p>The grin on Dice’s face wavered, but he kept his cool composure. “I made a mistake, is all,” he answered bluntly. “I thought Innovan was asleep, or just not home. Turns out he was home, and definitely awake. The old man had called the police, probably with some psychic powers of his, and he caught me up in a fight. When I tried to leave, there was a cop at the door. Not much I could do.” </p><p>“Oh, huh..” Sashy stared down at the ground for a few moments, taking time to think about that, before looking back at the ice type. “And...what have you done altogether? Or who have you worked with?” </p><p>“If I told you who I worked with and what I’ve done, it’d take as long as one of Stalwart’s stories here.” He chuckled as he patted the Mudsdale on the back, and the pokemon huffed in response. </p><p>“I don’t think I talk that much. Besides, the boy here likes it, and who am I to refuse telling a tale to him?”</p><p>“Whatever you say, mule.” Dice leaned back and looked up at the sky. Clouds were starting to fill the sky, and it was getting dark. Hopefully it didn’t rain. That’d make the whole ride a pretty dreadful experience. He hated getting his fur wet. </p><p>“But can’t you just tell me a few of your stories?” Sashy asked as he turned around completely, now riding the Mudsdale backwards, and he began to give the Sneasel puppy dog eyes. Whether he realized it or not, Dice had no idea, but it was definitely effective. </p><p>Dice stared at the kid and those now pleading eyes of his and realized that he couldn’t say no, even if he wanted to. He didn’t want to disappoint the kid. Not only did he want to see those ears slump down and to have him look down at the ground with a frown on his face, but he also didn’t want there to be silence the whole ride to Ornatro Cavern, and with sadness there was usually silence. </p><p>“You’re really good at pulling off the puppy dog face,” he muttered before shaking his head. “Yeah, yeah. Sure, I’ll tell you.”</p><p>“Yay!” Sashy hopped lightly in his seat before leaning against his hands, getting closer to Dice than what was necessary. </p><p>“Well...here, let me tell you about my first, uh...adventure, we’ll call it,” Dice said. “As long as you don’t tell anyone about this, I think it will be fine.” </p><p>“Oh, I won’t tell anyone! They might take you away if they find you guilty of any more crimes, and I don’t want my partner taken away!” Sashy then looked over his shoulder, towards the Mudsdale’s head. “You won’t tell anyone, right, Stalwart?” </p><p>“My lips are sealed as long as it’s a good story,” the mule stated as he continued along the path. At least Stalwart wasn’t going to snitch to the police. That rules out any possibilities of someone telling the police about this, at least.</p><p>“Okay, well, here...it started when I was young. When I first left home,” he started. Not wanting to stay on the topic of home for too long, he continued. “I had met a small group of troublemakers at this point. I think they were a Wooper, a Paras, and a Pancham who was quite the cutie…” </p><p>Eventually, the words just started to flow out of Dice’s mouth, and he probably couldn’t stop himself if he even wanted to. He started remembering all of the details and couldn’t help but feel a sense of nostalgia as he thought back to his first group of partners in crime. The two other pokemon with him seemed completely invested in his story. </p><p>After a while of talking, and finishing up the story of his first time stealing, he felt a few raindrops hit his fur. Normally he would have complained, but the only reaction he gave it was a slight twitch of his ear before continuing. </p><p>“Me and that group...we actually were a pretty good team,” he said. “Sure, we weren’t the biggest and baddest around, but I’d say that we did a good job considering our conditions. We stayed together after that first time, and we stayed together for a long time afterwards. It was almost a year before we started to fall apart.” </p><p>“What happened then?” Sashy asked, and Dice could see the raindrops fall on him and be absorbed into his skin. The cactus pokemon must be enjoying the extra water he was absorbing. He may not even need the water bottles that were packed for him, actually. </p><p>“Well, things started to get a bit...unstable,” he said with a shrug. “The Wooper had evolved into a Quagsire, and he started to get riskier and riskier while we were out stealing things. The Pancham argued with him a lot, and she eventually just...gave up on us. The time we were forced to run away from the scene of the crime was the last straw for her. We were on a decline. She left the next day and we didn’t have a leader.” </p><p>“And...what happened after that?” </p><p>Dice ran a hand along his arm, feeling some fur that was starting to get wet. “Well, we didn’t have a leader. The Quagsire tried to take up the mantle, but the Paras said he should be the leader now, instead of the Quagsire. She was the brains, after all. I stayed to the side, but their arguments had gotten pretty bad. The Quagsire then tried to steal something on his own, to prove that he had some good ideas, but he had gotten arrested while attempting it. That’s when the Paras left the group. Then there was just me.” </p><p>“So you decided to do your own thing.” The Sneasel nodded and Sashy copied the motion. “And then what happened?” </p><p>“I went from town to town, that’s what.” Dice shrugged. “I took what I had to to get some money. I stole some food sometimes, but mostly just valuables. I needed the money. What can I say? And I was good at it, too. One of the few things I had experience in, and it’s not like I could get a job with a lack of experience. So I just kept stealing. Honestly, I was probably going to get caught one way or another.” </p><p>Dice chuckled and leaned backwards once more, looking up towards the sky. “It’s a shame, too. I was hoping to be one of the better thieves in Dualsa. Guess that’s not an option now that I’m caught, huh? Oh well.” </p><p>Sashy nodded, but instead of looking away from the pokemon, he continued to stare at the Sneasel. “What do you plan on doing after your time’s up?” </p><p>“Huh? Dice adjusted himself and looked at his partner. “When my time’s up?” </p><p>“You know. You’re only in the guild for so long. It’s a type of community service. Are you planning on staying in the guild, or are you going to leave? What are you going to do afterwards?” </p><p>“Oh, I have no idea.” Dice shrugged once more. “That’s a few years away, though. I have a lot of time to think about it. Probably won’t spend my time here, that’s for sure. Got other things to do, kid. You know?” </p><p>“Yeah, right…” The Maractus’s ears drooped just slightly and he let out a sigh. Dice soon realized that he had hit a soft spot and he frowned. </p><p>“Hey, kid, it’s nothing against you. You know that, right?” The Maractus just shook his head and looked at the ground. “It’s not that I don’t want to be your partner or anything, it’s just that-” </p><p>“Before you continue,” Stalwart interrupted. “I think it’s a good time to say we made it to your destination.” </p><p>Dice blinked and looked around. Sure enough, there was a tall mountain in front of them. Not the tallest in the region, but it was definitely tall, and in the face of the mountain there was the opening of a cave, which led who knows how deep into the mountain. </p><p>“Already?” Dice asked as he slowly slid off the Mudsdale. It was a big fall, but he managed to land on his feet. “That didn’t feel like it took long at all.” </p><p>“Well, time does fly when you’re telling a good story.” Stalwart chuckled as Dice held out his hands to catch Sashy once he slid off. He was pretty sure the kid wouldn’t be able to land on his feet if he fell. </p><p>Sashy slowly slid off and Dice was able to catch him before he fell. He smiled at the kid before putting him down, though the kid didn’t smile back. Apparently the topic of Dice staying or not was a sensitive one. He didn’t know why it was such a big deal right now, though. Dice still had quite a ways to go before he could leave. </p><p>“You don’t mind staying here, do you, Stalwart?” </p><p>“I will stay until you return, and then we will leave for Strikelm once more,” he announced. “And that is where you will give me my payment.” </p><p>“Sounds like a plan,” Dice said before gesturing for Sashy to follow him as he walked towards the entrance of the cavern. Sashy followed, but not as excitedly as before. And, without any ceremony, they entered Ornatro Cavern, and Dice wondered just what this job had in store for them.</p>
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<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Ornatro Cavern</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Dice and Sashy explore Ornatro Cavern in search of a lost child.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Already Dice had found that Ornatro Cavern was an impressive landmark. As soon as he entered, he noticed gems all around. Tiny little gems glowing in the rocky walls of the cavern. His eyes were having a field day as they bolted from one shiny object to another, his mind immediately wondering how much all of these gems would even sell for. Did they seriously not mine this stuff out? That’s stupid, you could make a fortune off of these! And people wonder why there’s a lower class...</p><p>“Wow, this looks pretty.” Sashy hopped towards the wall and ran his spiked hand on one of the gems that was sticking out. It looked to be the size of an apple, from what was sticking out of the wall. Sashy seemed rather mesmerized by the shiny stone. “You think we can actually take these?” </p><p>Dice shrugged. “Even if we can, I don’t think we have anything to cut them out with. My claws definitely can’t cut through that.” As he said this, though, his claws shined as the material changed to metal. He tried slicing at one of the gems that poked out of the wall, but the only thing he got as a result was little chunks falling off the gem, though they were so tiny that it wasn’t even worth picking them up. </p><p>“Oh, okay.” The Maractus frowned slightly before turning around and moving back to Dice. Though, he didn’t stop when he reached his partner, and instead moved further into the cave. “Come on! We have a kid to find.” </p><p>“Yeah, what was it again?” Dice opened the bag that was slung around his shoulder and grabbed the paper with the job information on it. “Okay, Drifloon. A girl, too. Shouldn’t be difficult finding a balloon in a cave.”</p><p>“How far can we even go in this cave? Noctal said that it had poison gas in it, right? Wouldn’t we die if we go too far in?” </p><p>“Well, we’ll just make sure we don’t go too far in,” Dice shrugged once more. “Honestly, I don’t think it’s that big of a deal. If one of us starts to get dizzy, we tell the other and then we’re out of here.” </p><p>“Uh...okay. If you think that will work.” Sashy shook his head and continued along the path, which was currently lit by torches, thankfully. The mining operation that at the very least used to work here was nice enough to leave a few torches lying around. Dice could see in the dark, so it wasn’t a problem for him, but his partner most certainly couldn’t. </p><p>“You think it’s going to get dark in here after a while?” Sashy asked as they turned the corner. “I mean, the torches are going to run out eventually, aren’t they?” </p><p>“To be honest, I’m surprise there are even lit torches here.” Dice shook his head. “They definitely won’t last, though. After we get far enough, I’m sure they’ll run out.” </p><p>“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” Sashy ran his hand along the rocky wall as we moved. “I don’t like the dark, though. You don’t know what’s going to be in the dark…” </p><p>“Well, I mean, I do, but why don’t you take a torch with you, kid? That should help out.” </p><p>“And be so close to fire?” Sashy shivered and shook his head. “My mom and dad always told me to stay away from fire, and I don’t even want to get close to it anyways.” </p><p>“Alright. That’s your decision, then.” Dice chuckled and put his hands behind his head as he continued walking. Sure, he was an ice type too, and he had that same weakness to fire, but he would still grab a torch if he had to. He just wasn’t going to because he could already see in the dark, or at least that’s what he told himself.</p><p>After passing by many dead ends on their path, which they spent some time going down before ignoring the rest of the paths, as they probably all lead to dead ends, they started to approach an opening in the cave system. Though, before they made it into the bigger room which the path opened up to, Dice stopped and his ears perked up just slightly.</p><p>“Hey,” he grabbed the Maractus as gently as he could and pulled him over to him. Sashy gave him a quizzical look, but he put a finger to his lips and looked to the opening. “Let me go first, alright?” </p><p>He looked back to Sashy and saw him nodding. He mirrored the action before taking a slow step towards the room. He was trying not to make any noise. He could swear there was something in this room, and he wasn’t taking any chances. It sounded like...some shifting around and some fluttering of wings. Right. He had a solution to this.</p><p>Slowly, Dice moved out from the passageway and into the mined out room. He glanced up to the ceiling. His hunch was correct, just like he suspected. There were dozens upon dozens of Zubat hanging from the ceiling cave, adjusting themselves and flapping their wings around in a restless sleep. He knew that if they were to wake up on their own, they would become hostile. That’s why he needed to scare them away… </p><p>Dice’s claws shined brightly as the material changed from keratin to metal. He slammed both of his claws into the ground with enough force to cause the whole room to shake. Little bits of rock fell from the ceiling and the entire room trembled slightly thanks to the sheer force Dice put behind his attacks, and it was more than enough to awaken the Zubats. </p><p>Instead of turning on him, like the Zubats would have done naturally, they were instead startled by the rumbling and took off into the air. The Zubats swarmed and flew around the room in a flurry of screeches and wings, causing Dice’s ears to cry out in pain as the bats ran around chaotically. </p><p>Eventually they’d all direct themselves towards the doorway, where Dice had just came from. They charged right towards that passageway, and flew right into it. There was a loud scream, undoubtedly from Sashy, as the cactus pokemon would come running out of the passageway soon afterwards, his hands over his head and his eyes closed. </p><p>“Get ‘em off me, get ‘em off me!” The younger pokemon fell to the ground and covered his head with his two little arms, his ears brought down to the point where they were touching the floor, and his whole body was shaking. It was a sorry sight to see. </p><p>“Hey, kid, calm down. They’re just Zubat’s. They all flew away anyways. Trust me, I can hear them flying away right now.” Dice walked over to the kid and stared down at him, not exactly comfortable with having the kid freak out so much. He offered a hand to help the kid up. </p><p>“They...they did?” Sashy shook his head and looked towards the path he had just came down. Seeing no Zubats coming his way, and not hearing anything, he slowly nodded and looked back at Dice, taking his hand and using it to pull himself up. “Okay, I guess they did.” </p><p>Dice nodded and patted his partner on the head. “Now, let’s get moving again, huh?”</p><p>“Yeah, okay. That sounds good.” Sashy nodded once more and hopped away from his partner before taking a quick look around the room. He frowned, noticing there were two paths they could take. One lead straight ahead, and the other lead to the left. “Which way should we go?” </p><p>Dice blinked and looked between the two paths, trying to figure out which one to that. “Well, give me a moment,” he said before moving towards the path that lead straight forward. He stared down it for a moment before shaking his head. No, this probably wasn’t it. He then turned to the path that lead to the left and stood just in front of the path. </p><p>This path seemed to slant down just slightly. It was hard to notice, but Dice was pretty sure it was. He also looked down the path and saw that, eventually, the torches stopped. That was probably a good sign. The kid probably went pretty deep into the cave, so the deeper they go, the better chance they have of finding the kid. </p><p>“It’s down here,” he said before walking down the path. “Also, if you really don’t want to be in the dark, grab a torch now. They won’t be there for much longer.” </p><p>“Oh, uh...okay.” Sashy nodded and followed Dice down the path, looking at the torches that lined the wall and wondering if he should actually grab one of them. After a few moments of thought, he shook his head. No, fire was too dangerous… </p><p>“Who do you think dug this place out, anyways?” </p><p>“Probably Rhydons and Rhypheriors.” Dice shrugged as he continued moving. “Not many other pokemon can work on this, now can they?” </p><p>“Well, Excadrills can, and so can Dugtrios if they try hard enough, but I heard that Innovan is making a new invention that will make mining a lot easier. Some sort of drill powered by electricity.” </p><p>Dice chuckled. “Are you kidding me? This guy’s really trying to make people lose their jobs, isn’t he?” </p><p>“Huh? What do you mean?” </p><p>“Well, think about it, instead of hiring a bunch of Rhyhorns and Excadrills, which you have to feed, pay for, and make sure you have living conditions, you can just buy a bunch of drills and only a few electric pokemon to power them up. You don’t have need for those miners then. They lose their job.” </p><p>“Yeah, but...you don’t know if people who own mines would do that, right?” </p><p>“Are you kidding me? Of course they’d do that.” Dice shook his head before eventually deciding to grab a torch off of the wall. Yeah, okay, he could see in the dark, but he wasn’t going to guide Sashy around everywhere by grabbing his hand or something. “They’re in it for the money anyways. Less people you need to pay is more money for them to stuff their bags with. They’d be swimming in cash if that keeps happening.” </p><p>“I don’t know about that…” </p><p>“I do.” Dice chuckled as he looked around the path. By now the torches that were lighting the walls suddenly stopped. Instead just the base of torches were attached to the wall, but they weren’t lit. Good thing he decided to grab a torch, then. </p><p>Sashy had apparently chose not to respond to that, as there was a few minutes of silence as they continued to walk through the cave. Though, during those few minutes, Dice realized that he was having a harder time thinking. His thoughts were starting to get a bit murky, and it was getting difficult to think straight. Right, he was definitely going to the right place. </p><p>“You feeling alright?” Dice asked as he turned around. He saw that Sashy was looking down at the ground. “I mean, you’re not scared or anything, right?” </p><p>“Scared? Me?” Sashy chuckled and shook his head. He looked up at Dice and forced himself to smile, putting his hands on his hips. “I’m not scared! Come on, let’s keep going!” </p><p>“That’s good, because I think we might run into some angry pokemon down here,” Dice commented as he looked around still. “I’m sure a lot of feral pokemon live in here, and they probably don’t like people walking around their home.” </p><p>“Yeah, I think you’re right about that.” The cactus shook his head as the path opened up to a decent sized room. It was about as big as the quest room back at the guild. Dice could just barely see past the light of his torch; his eyes refusing to adjust to the darkness around him. Just as he was about to take a step further into the room, he heard a loud thump next to him. </p><p>Dice quickly turned around to see that there was a Geodude right next to him the light of his torch just barely illuminating the rock pokemon. The Geodude had balled his hand into a fist and he was about to punch Dice. All the Sneasel could do was try to defend himself from the pokemon, but the attack had never came. </p><p>Instead, the spikes on Sashy’s hands glew a dark green color and he smacked the Geodude on the forehead with his arm. The Geodude flew backwards and a loud thump confirmed he had hit the wall. Before Dice could turn to his partner and thank him, the room was suddenly flooded by a bright white light, causing Dice to squint his eyes. </p><p>In the brief moment that Dice could see the whole room, even with the light temporarily blinding him, he saw that Ferroseeds were dropping from the ceiling with a thud. He could also see, out of the corner of his eye, the way out of the room. It was past all of the Ferroseeds. Of course it was. That’s just his luck. </p><p>“What’s happening, Dice?” Sashy asked, his arm covering his eyes from the bright light. Dice grabbed his hand, being careful not to prick himself, and then ran towards the exit. </p><p>“Ferroseeds, and a lot of them.” He said as he ran across the room, his torchlight illuminating some of the Ferroseeds that had dropped from the ceiling, It was useful for trying to dodge them. “We gotta get out of here before they get us.” </p><p>“Uh, okay, yeah. Let’s go!” Sashy didn’t question where they were running to, and it was most likely because he wanted to just get out of the room. As Dice ran towards the exit, he saw pins that were as long as his claws shooting past his vision. They were shooting pin missiles at them!</p><p>The pins, thankfully, didn’t seem to hit any of them, as the Ferroseeds were bad shots, but they had hit the torch that Dice was carrying. A lot of them had hit the torch, actually. One pin had hit with so much force that it was shot out of his hand and flew towards the wall. With their light source gone, Dice continued running until he left the room, guiding Sashy by the hand. </p><p>“Wait, our torch!” </p><p>“We can’t go back for it now!” Dice continued to run, but as he did, he was beginning to stumble. He was starting to lose his balance and he was really finding it difficult to think now. The gas was getting stronger the farther he went, and he was finding it far too difficult to move. </p><p>After running for a few minutes, he stopped and leaned against the wall, panting like a dog as he tried to catch his breath, but it only made it even harder to think as the gas got to him further. </p><p>“You...you feeling okay, Sashy?” He turned to his partner and stared at him. He saw the frown on his face, as his eyes had adjusted to the dark now, and saw that he did not look happy. His ears were even drooping down. </p><p>“I’m...starting to feel sick.” He shook his head. “I think the gas is getting to me. Can’t we go back up now?” </p><p>“And risk getting pinned to death by those Ferroseed? I don’t think so.” He shook his head and looked further down the path. “We can only go down farther.” </p><p>“Oh...I don’t want to, though…” </p><p>“Oh, come on, you can handle it,” Dice said as he looked to Sashy with a smile. “You’re a tough kid. Can’t you get through this?” </p><p>“Uh, maybe. Just give me a moment, please.” The kid then closed his eyes and looked down at the ground. Dice followed his gaze and saw roots digging into the ground, somehow penetrating the rocks at his feet. The boy then sat still, probably attempting to absorb any nutrients he could find in the ground to help himself. </p><p>“The soil here tastes awful,” Sashy commented, his eyes still closed as his back hunched slightly. “Like the air. It tastes...almost polluted. I don’t know if I like it.”</p><p>Dice remained silent and only shook his head before opening the bag around his shoulder and digging through it. He pulled out an apple and took a big bite of it, savoring the taste and taking his time chewing. He wasn’t much of a fruit kind of guy. He was mostly a carnivore, but he’d make an exception for now. Right now, this was definitely making him feel better. Sure, he was still disoriented, but he was feeling more energized. </p><p>Just as he finished about half of the apple, he noticed that the roots were slowly starting to go back into Sashy’s feet. He looked up at the boy’s face just in time to see his eyes open. A smile slowly grew on the cactus’s face. </p><p>“Okay, I think I’m ready,” he said before hopping down the path. “You know, I think you’re right. I can get through this if I just really try. I’m not going to be scared anymore! I’m going to go through the rest of this mission. I’m brave! I can do it!” </p><p>“That’s the spirit. I figured you could do it.” Dice said with a chuckle as he took another bite of his apple. He then wiped off whatever might have fallen onto his face and walked away from the wall. “Let’s get moving, then. I doubt that we have much farther to go.” </p><p>“Right. I don’t think so either.” The Maractus smiled a bit wider before putting his hands together. “Actually, let me try something.” </p><p>Sashy then cupped his hands over his mouth and took a deep breath. “Hey, kid? Are you here?” His yelling was loud enough to make Dice cover his ears, but besides the yelling, and the echoes that would follow soon afterwards, he heard something else. It was faint, but it sounded like someone was responding. It was a very high pitched voice, too. A smile slowly grew on his face. </p><p>“That’s it!” he said as he started to move down the path once more. “The kid’s down here. Now let’s get him out of here and leave this place for good.” </p><p>“Yeah!” Sashy jumped into the air and followed the Sneasel down the path, his jumping causing maraca sounds to emit from his body and echo softly against the cavern walls.</p><p>As they ran, Dice had started to notice the gems that were in the cave walls once more. This time, though, it wasn’t because they were shiny, but it was because they were literally glowing. They were glowing green and illuminating the path just slightly. It was actually rather helpful with seeing further down the path. As they continued to run, though, the gemstones became more frequent, filling the walls of the cave and illuminating the area around them green. </p><p>After a while more of running, when Dice noticed he was starting to become numb due to the fumes, he saw that the path was starting to open up and become wider. After a while longer, the path opened up once again into a gigantic room, looking as big as the training room back at the guild. </p><p>When entering the room, he noticed that the cave still went even deeper into the earth. Of course, he wouldn’t dare go any deeper. Any deeper into the cavern and he’d probably faint from the exposure to the fumes. Though, in the middle of the room, there was a single, purple, balloon-like pokemon. </p><p>“Y-You came!” The Drifloon exclaimed in surprise. Dice noticed that there were tears in the pokemon’s eyes. The poor kid must be terrified. “Please...please get me out of here. They’re going to come back!” </p><p>“They?” Dice frowned and looked to Sashy, who seemed as confused as he was. He shook his head and looked back to the Drifloon. Thankfully the green light allowed Sashy to see as well, otherwise he might be freaking out like he was earlier with the Zubats. “Who’s they?” </p><p>“Why don’t you look up and you’ll find out?” A deep, somewhat feminine voice boomed through the room, and Dice’s ears perked up and twitched as he stared up only to see two dark red eyes peering down at him from the ceiling. </p><p>The eyes then suddenly fell down, and along with them came a body. The pokemon landed and the ground shook due to its weight. It landed right in front of the Drifloon child and Dice was able to get a good look as to what it was. It was a Gigalith, and a big one at that. </p><p>“Woah!” Sashy yelped and jumped backwards, his ears shooting straight up just to show his surprise. “Who are you?” </p><p>The Gigalith chuckled. “Who I am is not important, but if you must know, my name is Cobalt. Though, it doesn’t matter much. You’re going to be dead in a few minutes.”</p><p>“Wait...we’re going to die?!” Sashy shook his head. “This...this was a trap?” </p><p>“Of course it was!” Dice wasn’t sure if Gigalith’s had mouths, but the lady would probably be grinning if she did. “We found this kid and thought this would be the perfect opportunity to trick a few rescue teams into coming in. Turns out I was right, like usual.”</p><p>“And? You think you can take us down?” Dice crossed his arms and looked the Gigalith up and down. “You’re just one pokemon. Sure, you’re big, but I doubt you can take the both of us.” </p><p>“Oh, but I’m not alone. You just haven’t seen my partners yet.” </p><p>Suddenly, the ground next to Dice was shifting just slightly, and a small mound was forming. A few moments later, a Durant hopped out of the hole, causing Dice to jump back. Okay, bug types. Great… </p><p>“Tita the Terrible has arrived!” She shouted. “And we want all of your stuff. Everything! This is a stick up!” </p><p>“And after that,” the Gigalith chuckled, “since we can’t have you running around and telling others about us, we’re going to make sure you never leave this cave.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Ambush!</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Dice had to admit, it was a good trick. Kidnap a kid, or maybe just find a lost kid, and use him as bait for rescue teams. With luck, these three could have gotten a team with quite the stash of items on them. Unfortunately for them, they had only gotten the beginner team. Though, that wasn’t good for either of the two groups. </p><p>“You think we’re going to just give up like that?” Dice asked as he took a step forward, though the Durant, who apparently called herself Tita, quickly moved forward and bit his leg. Dice winced and he tried the best he could to hold back a scream and drop down to his knees. Ow...that hurt..</p><p>“If you don’t give up your stuff peacefully, we’ll just do it the violent way,” Cobalt said. “And trust me when I say it’ll be easy for us.” </p><p>“Oh really?” Dice asked as he attempted to stand up straight and tall. He refused to back down. Maybe the gas was just making him do stupid actions such as this. “And you think we can’t take you on? Two against two seems like a fair fight.” </p><p>“Right...well, you see…” As Cobalt’s words trailed off, Dice’s ears perked up as he heard something dragging across the ground. His days as a thief had really honed his already sharp sense of hearing. While most wouldn’t be able to hear it, he could, albeit faintly. “There isn't just two of us.” </p><p>Dice’s eyes widened and he turned around just in time to see a Seviper pounce forward, hissing with glee as it moved forward. Dice expected the snake to coil around him, but instead it moved past him and moved towards Sashy. It was able to wrap around the cactus for a few seconds before hopping off.</p><p>“AIEEE!” The snake slithered away and towards Cobalt. “It’ssss a cactus! It’ssss a cactus!” </p><p>“Why did you try to wrap around the Maractus?!” Tita asked, practically hopping into the air with sudden anger as she moved towards the Seviper and away from Dice. “You should have gone after the Sneasel!” </p><p>“I thought the cactusss wass a Buneary!” </p><p>“How could you think a cactus looked like a rabbit?!” </p><p>“They both got them big earsss! Besssides, I can’t sssee in the dark! We talked about this.” </p><p>“But you’re a snake! Seeing in the dark is one of the things you do best! It’s not even that dark in here!” Tita then turned to the Gigalith. “I told you we shouldn’t have brought the guy into our team. He can’t do anything right.”</p><p>Cobalt nodded and looked towards the Seviper. “Tita is right, you know. You haven’t really been pulling your weight like the rest of us.” </p><p>“Excussse me? I just joined a week ago! You haven’t given me a chance.”</p><p>As the group of three argued, Dice took this as an opportunity to open his bag and dig through it to try and find something that would help them. He took a sideways glance at Sashy, who just stared at the group with wide, almost blank eyes, like he couldn’t process what was going on. He looked back at the group of bandits and his eyes suddenly made contact with the big, red eyes of the Gigalith.</p><p>“What’s the Sneasel doing?” she asked, and this drew the attention of Tita, who turned around to look at the dark type. </p><p>“Yeah, what are you doing?” Tita moved forward. “Trying to find an item to trick us, I bet! Well, Tita the Terrible isn’t going to let you trick her!” </p><p>The ant then charged at Dice, it’s mandibles opening up as she looked ready to tear him apart. Quickly, Dice grabbed the first thing he could, some sort of seed, and popped it into his mouth. He knew some seeds had some special powers. He’s tried a few of them himself. Please let this be something like a quick seed…</p><p>As soon as Dice took a single bite of the seed, it felt like a fire was spreading across his entire mouth. His eyes widened and he quickly forced himself to swallow the seed, and it felt like it had singed his throat on the way down. The heat disappeared, but only for a second as Dice felt something climbing up his throat, burning it all over again. His eyes widened and he tried his best to keep his mouth shut.</p><p>As he tried to hold back whatever was trying to force its way out of his mouth, the Durant pounced at him, mandibles ready to dig into his neck. Before she could close her mandibles on him, Dice opened his mouth and what seemed like a ball of fire shot out of his mouth. It hit the Durant head on and it exploded, knocking both the Durant and Sneasel back from the force. </p><p>Dice was knocked off his feet from trying to keep himself standing and fell into a sitting position. He really was hoping it wasn’t a Blast Seed, but luckily it helped him out more than he thought. The Durant wasn’t so lucky, though, and instead landed on its back and was now spinning around, similar to a top. </p><p>“I’m getting dizzy!” she shouted as Dice forced himself to get up. Before he could turn to the others, the burning sensation climbed up his throat again and another fireball shot out of his mouth. This time, though, it just hit the wall and destroyed a few glowing crystals. </p><p>“Dice!” he heard his partner shout, and he glanced towards the cactus pokemon to see him running in his direction. As Sashy made his way towards his partner, his path was intercepted by a rock that had been tossed in front of him, and the Maractus had to skid to a halt to not get hit.</p><p>“Fine...guess we’re doing this the hard way.” Cobalt’s voice seemed to bounce around in his head, but with the fumes starting to make his vision clouded, making him feel numb, and having the seed burn up his throat, he didn’t care what anyone was saying right now. </p><p>Suddenly, a rock appeared out of the ground, floating in front of the Gigalith. Cobalt raised one of her left legs and slammed it against the rock. The rock shot towards Dice with an incredible speed. Dice was going to dodge, but once again, at the worst time, another fireball shot out of his mouth, colliding with the rock and causing a huge explosion, bits of rock flying everywhere. </p><p>“Damn blast seeds,” she heard Cobalt mutter before shaking her head. “It doesn’t matter. Boamba, can you take care of them?” </p><p>“Of course I can!” The Seviper wasted no time in slithering towards Dice, a huge, stupid grin on his face. “Come on, then, tough guy. Try to hit me!” </p><p>Dice groaned and his claws glowed bright white as the material changed to metal. He drew his hand back and slashed at the Seviper. Before the metal claws could make contact with the snake, it slithered out of the way and cackled at the Sneasel.</p><p>“Missed me!” It said before Dice tried slashing at him again. Once again, a miss. Dice tried to make contact with the snake at least three other times, but it didn’t work. “You really don’t have good aim, do you?” </p><p>Dice knew he couldn’t keep this up for too long. The fumes were going to get to him before he could hit this thing with any sort of attack...unless he tricked the snake. Actually...he may be getting an idea. </p><p>One of his claws stopped glowing as Dice then proceeded to try and hit the Seviper with his non-glowing claw. He was hoping to pull off a feint, to make the serpent react to an attack that was never coming. </p><p>Thankfully, Boamba moved out of the way and, just as he suspected, he took a moment to try and taunt Dice. “Ha! Missed me a-” </p><p>Dice rearranged his stance and slashed at Boamba with his metallic claw. He hit a segment of the snake’s body, whose reaction time wasn’t fast enough, and made a big gash in the reptile’s skin. </p><p>Boamba screamed out in pain and, just before Dice could deliver another blow, Sashy came out of seemingly nowhere and smacked the Seviper in the face with his spiked arm. Boamba was knocked away and, once he was able to pull himself together, he slithered right out of the room, up the path that Dice and Sashy had used to get here. </p><p>“Sorry, boss! You’ll have to handle this on your own!” </p><p>“You idiot!” Cobalt’s voice boomed and the room shook slightly. “You incompetent idiot!” </p><p>Dice let out a chuckle, albeit a weak one, as making any noise was hurting his throat due to the blast seed’s burns, and he turned to Cobalt. He saw the Gigalith stare at him, and presumably his partner, before darting towards Tita, who was still on her back and struggling to get up. Apparently she’s never had a problem like this before. </p><p>“Forget it, this isn’t worth it.” Cobalt shook her head and turned around before running deeper into the cave, her figure disappearing into the darkness past the room. </p><p>“Wait, boss, where are you going!?” Tita’s legs moved around furiously as she tried to correct herself and get herself upright, but before she could, Dice moved to her and pressed his hands down on her abdomen. </p><p>“I know you’re not going anywhere,” he said, even though his throat ached from speaking. He then looked at Sashy. “Try to find the kid, okay?” </p><p>“I’m...I’m here.” Dice blinked and looked towards the path that they had used to get to the room. The Drifloon child floated into the room and towards the rescue team. “I had floated away when you all started fighting...I didn’t want to get popped…” </p><p>“Hey, it’s okay.” Sashy looked like he was going to bring a hand out to pat the kid on the head, but then he froze and stared at his arm for a moment before bringing it down. “That was a good idea. You kept yourself out of trouble.” </p><p>“You think so…?” </p><p>“Yeah!” Sashy nodded before looking towards the Durant. “Now...let’s all get out of here.” </p><p>“And let me guess,” Tita muttered as she tried to move Dice’s arm away, but even while injured, he didn’t let go of the ant, “I’m under arrest now, aren’t I?” </p><p>“Yeah, you are.” Sashy said, but only after Dice nodded towards him. It was a good idea to have someone else talk for him. His throat wasn’t going to work for a while. “Once we get back to Strikelm, we’re going to take you to the police and turn you in.” </p><p>“Fine...guess I can’t resist.” The Durant rolled her eyes. “But let it be known that Tita the Terrible will have her revenge! You’ll see!” </p><p>Sashy chose to ignore her and instead looked to the kid. “Hey, what’s your name?” </p><p>“Zeima,” the girl answered and looked at the Durant before floating back slightly. “We’re...we’re going to get out of here, right?” She turned to Sashy and the cactus nodded. </p><p>“Just stay close to us, and we’ll get you out of here.” He then turned to Dice and smiled at him. “Ready to go?” </p><p>“As ready as I can ever be,” he said before grabbing the Durant and pushing her over so she was upright. Before she could do anything, though, Dice moved his head a bit closer to hers. “Also, don’t try anything stupid. Trust me, you don’t want us to turn on you.” </p><p>“Alright, alright. I get it.” The Durant shook her head and then walked towards the path that Dice and Sashy had taken to get into the room. Dice quickly followed the Durant so she couldn’t get away. Sashy and the kid followed close behind. It was going to take a while to get back to the surface, and the gases weren’t helping Dice, but as long as no one passed about, it should be fine…</p><p>...</p><p>“Oh, man. It’s raining!” Tita groaned as they made their way out of the cave, and Dice eagerly took a breath of fresh air. Already his vision was starting to clear up as he looked around for Stalwart. “I’m a steel type! This rain is going to make me rust!” </p><p>“I don’t think that’s how it works,” Dice said as he pushed Tita along. “And even if it was, you’re just going to have to deal with it.” </p><p>“Where’s Stalwart, anyways?” Sashy looked around and tilted his head slightly, his ears drooping to one side as he did. “How are we going to find him.” </p><p>“Call out to him?” Dice asked with a shrug. “You’re going to have to do it, though. Not like I can scream with my throat all burnt up.” </p><p>“Okay, well…” Sashy cupped his hands over his mouth and took a deep breath of the nice, fresh air. “Stalwart! Come out! We’re ready!” </p><p>“I’m here. I’m here.” Dice turned to the left and saw the Mudsdale coming out from the surrounding trees. “I was wondering when you would all get back. I was getting a bit worried about you. I would have gone in to find you, but caves usually don’t agree with me.” </p><p>“Sure. I bet that’s it.” Dice shook his head and moved to Stalwart. “Also, we got a couple of extra passengers, you don’t mind, right?” </p><p>“Of course not!” The Mudsdale snorted. “I say I could carry a whole team of rock types if I really wanted to, and those rock types are heavy.” </p><p>“I’m sure you could.” Dice chuckled and patted the Mudsdale’s body. “Now...how are we going to get up this time?” </p><p>“I could help!” Zeima floated forward and moved one of the strings towards Dice. The Sneasel tilted his head slightly and grabbed the string. Then he was slowly lifted up into the air and placed onto the Mudsdale. </p><p>“Wow, you’re a strong kid,” Dice muttered as the kid moved away and floated back towards the ground. “How old are you?” </p><p>“I’m only eight, but I’m really strong!” The girl giggled and then moved a string towards Sashy. “Watch your spikes, mister! I don’t want to pop!” </p><p>“I’d say you are,” Dice said with a chuckle as Sashy grabbed the string. “I’m wondering how strong you’ll get when you're a Drifblim.” </p><p>“When I’m a Drifblim I’m going to be big and strong!” Zeima seemed to smile as she set Sashy down and then looked to Tita. “Uh...I don’t think I can carry you up here.” </p><p>“It’s fine. I got it.” Tita shook her head and climbed up the Mudsdale’s legs before resting on the pokemon’s back. “I’m guessing we can’t talk something out and not turn me in?” </p><p>“Nope,” Dice said as he watched Zeima float to Stalwart’s neck and wrap her strings gently around his neck. Stalwart didn’t seem to have any problems, and once Dice patted his back, he was moving. “But if you’re lucky, you may be given a light sentence, especially if you cooperate.” </p><p>“What makes you think that, huh?” Tita asked as she kept herself situated on Stalwarts back. “What makes you think that they’re going to give a criminal like me a light sentence?” </p><p>“Well, it happened to me.” Dice said with a shrug. </p><p>“Yeah! Dice was a criminal, too!” Sashy spoke before Tita could think of what to say in response. “He was caught just yesterday and chose to join the guild instead of going to jail.” </p><p>“Wait, you were a criminal too?” Tita frowned and tried to poke Dice with her mandibles, but couldn’t get them past Sashy, who sat in front of her. “Then you understand why I was doing what I did?” </p><p>“Well, I’m more of a thief than anything.” Dice opened his bag and pulled out a bottle of water. He opened it and eagerly took a few gulps. Once he drank about a third of the bottle, which helped the burning sensation in his throat, he put the cap back onto the bottle and put it into his bag. “I mostly stole objects, and not kids.” </p><p>“But you understand why I do it, right? I’m just looking out for myself!” </p><p>“I was, too.” Dice nodded. “The guild looks out for you too, though. They give you food and a place to sleep, and the people there are actually kind of nice. Sure, the guild leader’s a bit tough, but as far as I know everyone there’s okay.” </p><p>“Same could be said about jail, though.” Tita shook her head. “Tita the Terrible will not be joining your silly guild! I would rather be in jail!” </p><p>“Oh, that’s a shame.” Dice shrugged. “I was just thinking that Tita the Terrible didn’t have to be so terrible, you know?” </p><p>“Huh? What do you mean?” </p><p>“I mean what I say. With the guild you can actually help people and make a living doing things people would like, and it doesn’t feel that bad doing it. You wouldn’t be known as “The Terrible,” though, but maybe you could be known as “The Terrific”. Tita the Terrific sounds better to me.” </p><p>“Tita the Terrific? Tita the Terrific.” Tita’s voice took on a deeper, almost comical tone. “Tita the Terrific is here!” </p><p>“You sound like you like it.” </p><p>Tita stared at Dice for a few good moments before shaking her head. “I will consider it! But even then they may not allow me to do so, so don’t expect anything good from me.” </p><p>“That’s fine with me. You have a couple hours to think about it. Think hard, now.” </p><p>As the steel ant became silent, Sashy lightly tapped Dice’s shoulder. The former thief glanced at the cactus pokemon and raised an eyebrow, noticing the kid’s smile. </p><p>“That was a nice talk you gave to Tita,” he said in a whisper so the bug type couldn’t hear them. “I didn’t know you felt that way about the guild, Dice.” </p><p>Dice chuckled, a mischievous grin on his face as he leaned closer to the kid. “Truth is, I really don’t.” As he spoke, the cactus pokemon’s smile disappeared and transformed into a light frown. “I don’t care what that bug does, but if she decides to join the guild, she stops being a problem for me, you, or any other rescue team in the future.” </p><p>Though it was, ultimately, a smart idea, Sashy didn’t seem to approve of it, and simply remained silent as he scooted back a bit, away from Dice. The rest of the ride was in silence as they moved into the city once more. A few minutes after entering the city, Stalwart stopped in front of the police center. They all slowly hopped off of Stalwart and Dice reached into his bag. “Where do I put the money?” </p><p>“There’s a pouch around my neck.” Stalwart had answered, and before Dice could even ask, Zeima had floated up and grabbed the bag. </p><p>“I was playing with it the whole ride,” she said with a giggle as she handed the pouch to Dice. “I was wondering what it was.” </p><p>Dice nodded and transferred some money from his bag into the pouch. Afterwards, he handed the pouch back to Zeima, who would then tie it around the Mudsdale’s neck once more. “I think we can walk the rest of the way. Thanks, Stalwart.” </p><p>“It was my pleasure.” The Mudsdale chuckled and then turned around. “Maybe we’ll see each other again?” </p><p>“Hopefully. You’re a good ride.” Dice noticed that Stalwart’s eyes seemed to almost glow at that compliment. Dice waved the Mudsdale goodbye and he left. He then turned to Tita and grinned at her. “Ready to turn yourself in?” </p><p>“I think so.” Tita sounded like she would shrug if she could do so. “Not like I have much of a choice. Let’s go.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. Unwinding</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Dice and Sashy come back to the guild after their mission, and get a chance to unwind and chat.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Dice and the three pokemon with him walked into the police station. Suddenly Dice remembered his first time being in this room. Well, the first time he was conscious in this room, as he had been knocked out when he came to the police station. The first time he could actually take a look at it was when he was leaving for the guild. That felt like a while ago now. Much more than a day.</p><p>Sashy joined Dice in looking around the room, but his eyes seemed to latch onto something and he waved. “Excuse me? Officer Machon? Could you come here? </p><p>Dice followed his partner’s gaze. Once he did, he saw a very familiar, colorful bird. The officer’s face was as stern as ever, and he didn’t look happy to see him.</p><p>“Well, if it isn’t the thief.” Machon crossed his arms as he looked at the group of four. “Didn’t expect to see you again so soon. What is it that you want?” </p><p>“We have a criminal we need to turn in.” Dice gestured to Tita and then opened his bag. He pulled out the paper with the job information and handed it to Machon. “And we have a lost kid here. We took a job at the guild to find him. We turn the job in here, right?” </p><p>Machon grabbed the paper and unraveled it. He stared at it for a few moments before nodding and rolling it back up. “Alright, and who’s the criminal here?” he looked down at the Durant. </p><p>“It is Tita the Terrible, officer!” The Durant seemed far too enthusiastic for her upcoming incarceration, though Dice didn’t judge. “Perhaps you heard stories about me!” </p><p>“Oh, yeah, we’ve heard about you.” The officer nodded as he put a hand to his chin in thought. “You were working with the creeps out in the forest, right?” </p><p>“We were not just random creeps, I’ll have you know!” Tita, most likely to show off, then pushed off of the ground and tried to balance on her hind legs, which got her to almost the same height as the officer, if not a few inches shorter. “We are the Mineral Miscreants, the terror of the southeast of Dualsa!” </p><p>“You are not called that.” Machon shook his head. “Whatever. The court will decide what’s going to happen to you, then. And I’m assuming that you had something to do with this missing kid?” </p><p>“It wasn’t her idea, officer.” Dice quickly jumped in with. He didn’t want to get Tita in too much trouble. If she was accused of too many crimes, community service may not be an option for her. Thieves look out for each other. “It was the Gigalith that had chosen to steal the kid.” </p><p>“Actually...yeah, that’s true.” Tita nodded. “It was the boss’s idea, and I didn’t say no to that. No one says no to the boss. She’s way too scary to say no to.” </p><p>“You still could have tried to stop her.” Machon shook his head and walked away, gesturing for the Durant to follow. “Come on, We’ll put you in a cell for a while. We’ll ask you a few questions and figure out what to do with you. You other three can wait here.” </p><p>“Yes, sir!” Sashy said with a nod. Before turning to Dice. “Wow...our first mission is done. Our first job!” </p><p>“That might as well have been two jobs.” He chuckled and watched as Machon walked away with Tita. “And it’s good to know that Machon is still as serious as usual. Hopefully he won’t rough the girl up too badly.”</p><p>“Huh? Do you know him?” Sashy’s head tilted to the side, but all he got was a stare from his partner. A wave of realization washed past his face. “Oh...I get it.” </p><p>“Yeah, he was the guy that locked me up in the first place.” He shrugged and leaned against the wall. “And from the small talk we had between each other, I don’t think he likes me.” </p><p>“Yeah, I wouldn’t think so.” Sashy shook his head and looked Zeima. “So, when are your parents coming here?” </p><p>Zeima shook her head. “I don’t know. I hope I get to see them soon, though. I’ve never been away from home this long. I just wanted to play around the cavern and then…” </p><p>Seeing that the kid may cry very soon, Sashy quickly reached forward and patted the child’s strings, which was the only place he could touch without possibly popping the balloon. </p><p>“It’s okay. It’s okay. It’s going to be okay. We’re going to get you to your parents, and it’s going to be fine. You’ll be safe and back home before you know it!” </p><p>The child seemed to calm down a small bit. “Okay, if you say so, sir.” She nodded and looked around. “I just want to see my parents…” </p><p>“I know, I get it. It’s hard being away from home, but you gotta be strong.” Sashy gave the kid an encouraging smile. “You can be strong, right? Can you be strong for your parents? You can tell them you were a brave girl when you get home.”</p><p>“Yeah…” The child moved a string up and wiped the tears from her eyes. Zeima seemed to gain a bit more confidence. “Yeah. I’m a brave girl. I’m not scared!” </p><p>“That’s the spirit!” Sashy chuckled and then looked to the left. Dice did the same and noticed that Machon was coming back, a bag in his hand and a Smeargle with a light blue tail, as opposed to the usual green, following him. </p><p>“Alright, the criminal has been escorted to a cell.” Machon then looked at Zeima for a moment before turning to the Smeargle. “Ruiz, your job’s to escort the girl back to her home. You know the address, right?” </p><p>Ruiz nodded and pointed to his head with his tail, which was grasped tightly in his hand. “Got it all memorized,” he said before walking to the balloon pokemon. “Come on, kid. Let’s get you to your parents.” </p><p>“Oh, okay.” The Drifloon looked to Dice and Sashy and nodded at them. “Thank you! Really...thank you.” </p><p>Dice nodded and watched as the two pokemon left the police station. Once the door had closed, he turned towards Machon. “So, what’s the bag for?” </p><p>“This is your reward.” Machon moved the bag towards the two pokemon, and Sashy grabbed it before looking inside. His eyes widen slightly. “It’s for catching the Durant and finding the missing child. Two thousand for the outlaw, and another two thousand for the child.” </p><p>“That’s...wow. That’s a lot.” Sashy shook his head and looked to Dice. “That’s four thousand pokedollars! That’s so much money.” </p><p>“Yes, well, I heard that the guild takes a large part of the reward to make sure it has funds.” The officer crossed his arms and looked between the two of them. “I don’t want to disappoint you, but something tells me that you’re not going to end up with as much money as I gave you.” </p><p>“Hey, as long as we get a good amount, I think it’s alright.” Dice opened the bag around his shoulder and moved it towards Sashy. The Maractus put the pouch full of money into the bag and he closed it once more. “Anyways, it’s good to see you again, Libre.” </p><p>“Officer Machon,” the Hawlucha said with slight aggressiveness. “And I don’t think I can say that the feeling is mutual.” </p><p>“Oh, come on. I saved a kid’s life, and went through a hell of a lot to do it, too. Pretty sure I almost died. Can’t you cut me a little slack?” </p><p>Machon didn’t say anything for a few moments before shaking his head and turning around. “Just go. You have to go back to your guild, right?” </p><p>“Yeah, you’re right.” Dice turned around and gestured for Sashy to follow before beginning to walk out of the station. “Come on, kid. We got places to go, you know.” </p><p>“Oh, yeah.” Sashy waved to the Hawlucha as he walked out the door. “Goodbye officer! Have a good day!” </p><p>“That guy is so strict.” Dice shook his head as he walked down the street. “You’d think saving a kid’s life would mean I’m treated a bit nicer than an extra trashy Garbodor.” </p><p>“I don’t know. Maybe he just doesn’t like criminals.” Sashy shrugged as he followed his partner. “I don’t know the guy that well. I don’t spend much time in the station.” </p><p>“What? I thought you said you helped the police out? What happened to that?” </p><p>“I do, I do. It’s just that normally I’m out helping people in the city. Looking out for criminals and all that. Besides, I’m normally with officers who are just starting out, like their first few days on the job, you know? I never had a partner who was an experienced officer.”</p><p>“Oh, that’s great.” Dice rolled his eyes. “Whatever. If that guy doesn’t like me, I’ll just try to avoid him. Can’t be that hard, can it?” </p><p>“I guess not, no…” </p><p>The rest of the walk to the guild was in silence, but when they finally came to the front of the guild, they were met with three familiar pokemon, who seemed to be waiting at the front of the guild specifically for them. There was Lucca, Loki, and Brat, and when they appeared at the front of the guild, the former two smiled at them.</p><p>“It’s about time you came back,” Brat muttered before moving towards the two. “Lucca had said we should wait for you to come back from your first mission. Congratulate you and all.” </p><p>“So, how did it go?” With a grin on his face, Loki moved to Brat’s side and stared at them while Lucca stayed behind, but gave them a very friendly looking smile. </p><p>“Well, I’d say it went pretty-” Suddenly Dice had a coughing fit come on, and he covered his hand over his mouth and shook his head, his throat aching once again, but at least it didn’t feel like it was on fire now. “Actually, it went pretty poorly.”</p><p>“Huh? What happened?” </p><p>“Well…” Dice glanced towards his partner and met his eyes. They were obviously thinking the same thing. “You want to explain it?” </p><p>“Well, you see, we ran into a lot of problems.” Sashy let out a nervous chuckle and then proceeded to tell them about their adventure in Ornatro Cavern, including the ambush and all the encounters with feral pokemon, and the effects the noxious gasses had on them.</p><p>Once the story was over, Brat frowned and looked at Loki. “You sent them to Ornatro Cavern?” he asked. “You know how dangerous that place is, don’t you?” </p><p>“What? They could have said no if they wanted to.” Loki shrugged. “It’s not like I was forcing them to go on the mission. I was just suggesting it.”</p><p>“Well, you should have thought about it before you suggested it. You could have gotten them killed.” </p><p>Lucca frowned and moved towards Dice and Sashy. “But...you two are okay, right?” His ears folded downward similar to a sad puppy as he asked this. “You aren’t hurt?” </p><p>“I think I’m fine...mostly.” Dice looked down at his leg, the one that Tita had bit, and shook his head. “I think my throat hurts more than anything. Didn’t expect to be eating a blast seed today.” </p><p>Loki chuckled and nodded. “Yeah, those blast seeds pack a punch, but they really kill your throat after it’s all done.” </p><p>“Honestly it would have been better if you didn’t pack them the blast seed. A quick seed would have done better.” Brat spoke as he glanced towards Lucca.</p><p>Lucca looked down at the ground and nodded. “I didn’t know what else to get, though. Besides, Sashy likes blast seeds. Don’t you?” </p><p>Sashy nodded. “Yeah, I like the spicy taste. The fireballs aren’t really the best, but they’re fun to eat.” The Maractus chuckled and looked at Dice. “Maybe I should have been the one to eat the seed.” </p><p>“Oh, you think?” Dice shook his head and looked to the three fully evolved pokemon in front of him. “Anyways, can we just go inside? I feel like I need to rest.” </p><p>“Well, first we need to see the money you made.” Loki crossed his arms. “It’s just a part of guild policy.” </p><p>“We’re going to be the ones to take your money and give it to the guild leaders. We’ll say it came from you, though. You’ll still get credit.” Brat held his hand out. “Now, the money, please.” </p><p>Dice nodded and opened his bag. He reached into it and pulled out the pouch before handing it to the Gallade. “How much money are you taking, anyways?” </p><p>“You’ll find out soon enough.” Brat muttered as he opened the bag and looked inside. “Oh, dear. This is a lot. How much is in here, exactly? Knowing the exact number is going to make things easier.” </p><p>“Four thousand,” Dice said as he looked at his partner with a small grin. “I’d say we made some big money.” </p><p>“Ah, okay. Well, that makes things a bit easier.” Gallade pulled out several coins and handed the pouch to Loki. After counting them off, he handed the coins to Dice, while Loki kept the pouch. “There’s your money.” </p><p>Dice frowned and stared at the pile of coins in his hand. “This? This is just…” He counted the coins out quickly before looking back up at Brat. “Hey! Are you kidding me? This is only four hundred pokedollars, and we spent two hundred just to get to the caverns!”</p><p>“Well, I’m sorry. My colleague should have picked a place that wasn’t so far away, so you wouldn’t have to spend money.” Brat glanced towards Loki and shook his head. “But the guild takes ninety percent of the money so it can keep running and buy food for everyone. We had the same problem when we first started out.”</p><p>“Then how are we going to make any money if the guild keeps taking it?” Dice adjusted the handkerchief around his neck, the guild badge attached to it shining brightly in the sunlight. “That doesn’t seem fair.” </p><p>“You’ll gather enough money soon enough,” Brat said as Loki looked through the bag of coins. “You’ll just have to be patient and not buy anything that catches your eye. Think economically, and always focus on buying supplies for missions before buying items for your own enjoyment.” </p><p>“Thanks for the lesson.” Dice muttered before looking at Sashy. “I’d still rather keep that money than have it be taken away.”</p><p>“It’s for the good of the guild, Dice,” Sashy said with a frown. “I mean...we need the guild, otherwise there wouldn’t be anyone to save people like Zeima. Not nearly as many people would get help without the Dungeon Crawlers.” </p><p>“Exactly.” Brat nodded. “Besides, if it wasn’t for this guild, you wouldn’t have been able to make that kind of money anyways. It’s all for the best.” </p><p>“Yeah, yeah. Whatever.” Dice shook his head. Sharing didn’t make sense to him, like the whole concept was foreign. It had been knocked out of his vocabulary a long time ago. Even during those rare times he worked with someone else, sharing the profits was always the worst part. Thieves don’t share. Though, if he’s going to be a part of the guild, he’d have to get used to it, even though he hated that. “Let’s just go inside.” </p><p>“Right. We need to give this to the guild masters. It’s in the middle of the afternoon right now, or at least close to it. You can stop by the cafeteria to get a quick lunch, if they still have it available, if not you can probably go out and buy some food for yourself, or just wait for dinner.” </p><p>“Yeah, buy food with the two hundred dollars that we made on this mission,” Dice muttered with a bitter tone as the three began to walk inside. Though, before he and his partner could go in, Lucca stopped them. </p><p>“Sorry about the blast seed,” he said. His ears were still down and he looked genuinely upset about his mistake. “I didn’t want to hurt your throat.” </p><p>Dice groaned. This was the most emotional pokemon he’s ever met, and he worked with an Audino who broke down at the mere thought of robbing a house. “Look, it’s alright. I’m fine. I’m just going to drink some water when we go inside. Maybe eat some ice or something. I’ll be fine, and besides, it was only me who was hurt. Sashy got out of it...mostly fine, I think.” </p><p>“Yeah, I’m fine, too,” Sashy said in a comforting tone. “I was a bit shaken, but I’m okay.” </p><p>“Okay…” It was then that Lucca scooped the two pokemon into a hug. While Dice didn’t want to be pressed so closely together against his partner, and was already feeling the spikes dig into him, he knew complaining wouldn’t get him anywhere. </p><p>Eventually, the Lucario let the two of them go. “Here, I’ll lead you guys to the cafeteria. We can all get some food together.” </p><p>Once the Lucario mentioned food, Dice’s stomach growled like an angry Pyroar. He held back a chuckle and nodded. “Yeah, that sounds good. Let’s go.” </p><p>They made it to the cafeteria eventually, though it took longer than Dice would have hoped. He was starving at this point.</p><p>“I thought Eddy said that there weren't meals before dinner,” he said as he quickly moved further into the dining room. “What happened to that?” </p><p>“Well, we have lunch.” Lucca said with a small chuckle. “It’s mostly for pokemon that haven’t gone on a mission yet today, or those who have finished a mission really early. You guys just left really early. When I came back, those battles that people were dong in the training room? They were still going on. They were really fun to watch, actually.” </p><p>“Really?” Sashy asked. “Did you join in a fight too?”</p><p>“Yup!” Lucca smiled. “I got into the training room and as soon as everyone saw me they asked if I was fighting Brat. There were so many people that wanted to see it that I couldn’t say no.” </p><p>“Oh, that sounds awesome!” Sashy hopped into the air, a few maraca shakes accompanying his movements. “Who won the fight?” </p><p>“Well…” Lucca looked around the room before getting close to Sashy before whispering, “Don’t tell him I said this, but I let him win.” </p><p>“Aw, I wanted to see you go all out.” Though, Sashy didn’t sound all that disappointed, and he just shrugged. “Still sounds fun to watch, though.” </p><p>“Hey, less talking and more eating, please,” Dice said as he snapped his fingers. Or at least tried to. Claws made it difficult to snap your fingers. “Where’s the food?” </p><p>“Oh, you have to ask for some leftovers. Here, I’ll show you.” Lucca walked to one end of the giant dining table, the end where the guild leaders normally sat. Dice hadn’t noticed it yesterday, but there was a small dinner bell on the table next to the seat Magnus sat at last night. Lucca grabbed it and shook it violently, the ringing sound filling the room. </p><p>“Some meat and a whole bunch of berries, please!” He called out to seemingly no one, since there were only a few pokemon in the room, and none of them seemed like they had food ready to give to them. Though, suddenly, a Haunter and a Chandelure descended from the ceiling, as if just coming into existence. They held plates of food, the Haunter using his hands and the Chandelure using some sort of ghost abilities.</p><p>The ghost pokemon floated down next to the table and set the two plates down. Afterwards, they ascended back into the ceiling and disappeared, becoming invisible as they ascended. </p><p>“Some service you have here,” Dice muttered as he took a seat next to the plate of meat, which the Haunter had dropped, and dug his claws into the food. He didn’t care much for manners right now. He was honestly starving.</p><p>“Well, it’s one of the few jobs that they can really get in the big cities,” Lucca said as he sat next to Dice, and Sashy sat next to Lucca. “Most people don’t like the idea of ghost types having jobs like working at a desk or just being an assistant. They’re often stuck with watching graveyards instead.” </p><p>Dice nodded as he swallowed a cut of the meat. His mouth watered at the taste. He had to admit, he liked the apples Lucca had packed, but he would trade ten of those for the meal in front of him. He took another piece of meat and popped it into his mouth. </p><p>“Yeah, you get that with some of the types.” Dice still had food in his mouth as he spoke. “I mean, if I didn’t grow up to be a thief, I doubt I could get many jobs in a big city like this.” </p><p>Lucca frowned and nodded as he put a berry into his mouth. Unlike Dice, he waited until he swallowed before speaking. “Yeah, it’s bad here in the city for dark types...and ghost types, honestly. It’s a lot better for them in small cities.” </p><p>“Yeah, when I was a kid, my brother had a friend that was a Dusclops when I lived in the desert,” Sashy had pointed out, and Dice glanced at him for a moment before going back to his food. “People actually liked him. Sure, some people picked on him, and others were...uneasy around him, but most people liked him. I don’t know what happened to him, though.” </p><p>“You have a brother?” Dice asked before chuckling. “Haven't heard that yet, what's his name?” </p><p>“Oh, uh, well, I never got a chance to talk about him.” Sashy shook his head. “But my brother’s name is Carnas. He’s a Roselia. He became part of a guild a few years before I left. That was...one of the reasons why I wanted to join a guild myself.” </p><p>“You brother’s a Roselia?” Dice tilted his head just slightly. “So...what? Your father’s a Roserade? Or is it your mother?” </p><p>“My dad’s a Roserade. That’s how I got these.” He pulled his left ear down and showed the two pokemon the blue rose which sat on top of it. “My dad never really liked it in the desert, but I think he got used to it after a while. They’re both really nice people.” </p><p>“I’m sure they are,” Dice said as he took another piece of meat. If this kid came from those two Pokemon, they had to be nice. Dice chuckled. “Maybe I’ll get a chance to meet them eventually.” </p><p>“Oh, that’d be fun!” Sashy seemed to hop up in his seat just lightly. “If we ever go there, for whatever reason, I can show you my old town! You’ll love it there!” </p><p>“I don’t think deserts are my thing, but I’ll give it a try.” He swallowed the food in his mouth and he was already feeling some energy come back to him. Though, not enough to do much else today. “Say, kid, how 'bout we head to our rooms a bit early today? I'd say we deserve it."</p><p>Sashy chuckled. “Yeah, we definitely do.” He shoved a few berries into his mouth and began to rapidly chew them. That’d probably last him a week or something all on it’s own. “Maybe we leave before everyone else does at dinner?” </p><p>“Sounds good to me.” Dice said as he leaned back in his chair, putting his hands behind his head. </p><p>His first official day at the guild was definitely a tiring one, but he shouldn’t be complaining. He doubted every day was going to be like today, and if he was given constant meals, as long as he got to the guild on time, he couldn’t complain. Maybe these next few years at the guild aren’t going to be so bad. Wouldn’t that be great?</p>
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